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Front Page » Healthcare » Half of Jackson West patients test positive for covid-19

Half of Jackson West patients test positive for covid-19

Written by on August 17, 2021
  • www.miamitodayepaper.com
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Half of Jackson West patients test positive for covid-19

Since opening its doors to the community Aug. 2, Jackson West Medical Center healthcare workers and staff have been at the forefront treating sick people, especially those with covid-like symptoms.

Jackson West opened in time to take on a new surge wave of Covid-19 positive cases sweeping across the US with Florida becoming, once again, one of the nation’s epicenters for the virus and its Delta variant strand.

Throughout the county, covid positive rates have increased 14.2 % in the past week with 1,805 patients hospitalized and 299 of them on ventilators. A total of 84% of admitted patients were unvaccinated, Miami-Dade County officials reported Monday.

“We have seen a lot of covid patients but thankfully we’ve been able to manage them in the emergency room, give them the medication that they need and get them back to their homes,” said Eddie Borrego, Jackson West Medical Center’s CEO.

The hospital is about 45% full and half of those patients are covid-positive patients, he said. “I would say that of the patients that come in to the emergency room, about 60% to 70% of those are folks that are coming in with covid-type symptoms,” he said.

In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), four out of the eight available beds are occupied by a Covid-19 positive patient. Currently, Jackson Health System hospitals throughout Miami-Dade have 421 covid patients, with 99 of those individuals being treated in ICU units, Mr. Borrego said Tuesday. “I would say 98% of the patients that we get with covid are people that were not vaccinated, which is really tragic, and that’s just for my hospital,” he added.

Jackson West offers a combination of consumer-centered inpatient and outpatient facilities with the latest surgical and medical programs, adult and pediatric emergency rooms, diagnostic and imaging services, maternity care services and specialty physician clinics. The new medical center, designed by architectural firm Perkins + Will, sits on 27 acres at 2801 NW 79th Ave. in Doral.

Jackson purchased the property as part of the Jackson Miracle-Building Bond Program back in 2015 and cost an estimated $336.4 million to build. In 2016, the Jackson Health Foundation received a $10 million donation from the José Milton Foundation in honor of José Milton, a well-known Miami developer who was passionate about Jackson after receiving treatment for a brain tumor. The acute care hospital building was named José Milton Memorial Hospital in honor of Mr. Milton, who passed away in 2013.

Employing over 500 healthcare workers and staff, the new medical campus allows Jackson Health System to expand its medical care into some of the county’s fastest-growing residential and commercial communities including Westchester, Sweetwater, Hialeah and Miami Lakes.

“We have very experienced nurses, care teams, and our ICU is covered by University of Miami physicians, who have been dealing with covid now for the past two years,” Mr. Borrego added. “We’re part of Jackson Health System. We’ve been here for 103 years in this community providing dedicated compassionate, empathetic and expert care. We’re here to serve in any capacity, whether it’s covid or not covid.”

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