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Partners for Shelter Locals work with contractors to set up temporary hospitals By / Natalie Bruckner Photos by Weickert Industries
As hospitals across the country scramble to accommodate the growing number of COVID-19 patients, SMACNA contractors and SMART craftspersons are stepping up at a moment’s notice to help alleviate some of the strain on the system. In New York, considered to be the epicenter of the pandemic where the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases as of mid-April exceeded 100,000, there are concerns that not enough hospital beds will be available to meet demand. In an effort to escalate preparedness in the area, temporary hospitals and triage tents (which are used to assign degrees of urgency) have been set up to act as an extension to hospitals’ emergency rooms. But there is a sense of extreme urgency with no time to waste if the country is to tackle the problem. On March 27, John Weickert III, fifth generation of the family-owned Weickert Industries, received a call to help build one of those triage tents at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, New York. “Receiving a call like that in the middle of the pandemic, well, you just don’t even think twice about it,” he says. “I got the call at about 2 p.m. on the Friday, and I was at the hospital at around 4:30 p.m. We came up with a plan, and on Saturday morning we opened up the shop to fabricate the ductwork for the tent, loaded it onto the truck in the afternoon, and installed it that day. It was essential to have air conditioning and heating in place and ready to go before they could open to the public.” 8 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
NYU Winthrop Hospital is just one example of the 341 temporary hospitals that are expected to be built across the country in response to the pandemic. NYU Winthrop Hospital, which was originally operating at 511 beds, has been able to increase this number following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s request that hospitals increase their capacity by 50 percent. Anne Kazel-Wilcox, public relations manager at NYU Winthrop Hospital, says the facility now has two emergency department triage tents. “They were erected in a matter of days,” she says. “The first one was finished early April and the second in mid-April. Each tent is used to help assess and manage those presenting with respiratory symptoms, accommodating overflow to our emergency department.” In total, the two tents can accommodate around 40 patients. Weickert was also involved in the second tent, but on a consultancy basis. “The market had gone quiet by that stage, so we were down to a skeleton crew when I got the call that they needed ductwork erected on a second tent,” he says. “I provided guidance and went down to do the balancing to verify the air ducts would have the proper warm or cool air delivery for the comfort of staff and patients.” Eric Meslin, president and business manager at Local 28 of Metropolitan New York and Long Island, adds that a number of his contractors have been busy working on temporary hospitals across the state to help assist during the pandemic.
