Chickasaw Nation converts former K-Mart building as part of COVID-19 response

Ada Okla - Curious residents driving by the former K-Mart department store located on Craddock Road in Ada have noticed an uptick in activity as the building transitions to an Emergency Multi-Use Facility (EMU).

Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said this project, as well as others are part of the comprehensive response to the public health crisis.

"Individuals are facing a wide variety of challenges as a result of this pandemic," said Governor Anoatubby. "Our leadership team has developed an integrated approach to services designed to help meet the current and long-term needs associated with this public health emergency. We continue placing a high priority on helping contain this virus to help protect the health, lives and long-term economic prosperity of our citizens and neighbors."

Construction projects also include an alternate site care facility and an expansion of the Men's Recovery Center. Funding for construction was made available by the U.S. Congress CARES ACT which, among other things, established the Coronavirus Relief Fund to provide monies to support tribal governments in their response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The former K-Mart building location will serve as a unified incident command center, a COVID-19 drive-through testing and vaccination site, and an optional COVID-19 strategic personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory storage facility.

Dr. Charles Grim, Chickasaw Nation secretary of health, says the site will serve as a distribution point for strategic supplies inventory and pre-packed modules containing apportioned supplies made available to other local, state and tribal entities during times of emergency. Pre-packed modules often include PPE, medication, medical supplies, emergency rations and water.

The new facility will act as a host site for coordination among local, state, tribal, federal and other emergency management systems.

COVID-19 testing there will be dedicated to the mitigation of and response to the public health emergency using touchless, drive-thru service. It will also serve as a mass immunization site when a vaccine becomes readily available and as a community-based distribution point for additional services such as emergency rations, water and PPE.

Alternate site care facility

Dr. Grim says new construction on the Chickasaw Nation's Ada medical center campus will result in an "alternate site care facility," a term unknown to most ears.

"You don't hear 'alternate site care facility' very often," he said. "Where you do tend to hear it are in mass casualties or long-term sorts of problems like in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina when the city flooded there."

Dr. Grim said in times of large-scale emergencies, communities often convert civic centers or indoor sports arenas with large open areas into places to put beds, exam rooms or both because hospitals are filled to capacity.

"Whenever you have a long-term issue, which we seem to have with COVID, you start needing more capacity than you have in your current facility; that's where you start hearing about alternate site care facilities," he said.

The reason for locating it at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center (CNMC) in Ada is due to logistics and convenience of care.

"It would be easier for nursing, respiratory therapy and for everyone to be on one campus instead of having to go across town to some building that we converted into an alternate site care facility," he said.

It is approximately 12,000 square feet and is large enough to house 48 beds in addition to those already available within the CNMC itself, if needed.

"It will only be used for this type of care when we exceed our capacity in the medical center," Dr. Grim said. "The rest of the time it will be used as a nurse training facility. Nurses will have actual enclosed rooms and manikins that can simulate almost any human medical condition."

One part of the building large enough to accommodate 36 beds separated by partitions will simulate conditions typical of alternate site care facilities during emergencies.

Dr. Grim said its negative pressure rooms siphon out air and replaces it with fresh air, similar to a typical Intensive Care Unit, which maintains clean air throughout the entire building.

Dr. Grim said another use for the new facility will come about when a COVID-19 vaccine is made available for distribution.

"Whenever we get a vaccine for this virus we want to start doing mass immunizations," he said.

Another approximate 12,000 additional square feet is being added to CNMC's laboratory, medical supply area and its in-patient pharmacy.

Dr. Grim said all those areas have been impacted by the coronavirus. Before the pandemic it seemed economically wasteful to have more inventory on hand than may be needed in the next couple of days.

"If you could get something in two days, why stock 30 to 60 days' worth?" he said.

Uncertainty has changed that tactic. "We're back to thinking we should supply 30 to 60 days' worth because you never know when you're going to run out of masks, gowns and gloves, especially when there's a worldwide pandemic. That is one of the reasons we are expanding medical supplies and we are going to have medical supplies in the alternate site care facility as well."

Medical supplies in CNMC's laboratory are also expanding. "We bought five additional lab machines for COVID testing," Dr. Grim said.

"Early on we couldn't get the testing materials or the equipment. As time went on, we knew we wanted to build the capacity in-house so we purchased machines to do both the viral testing and the antibody testing."

Hina Chokma

Jay Keel, secretary of Chickasaw Nation Family Services, says two more buildings under construction are designed to serve as emergency temporary recovery units. Due to the pandemic, the "Hina Chokma" (Chickasaw for "Good Health"), program had been operating at half its 14-bed capacity.

The two additional buildings will feature three bedrooms each with private bathrooms. This additional space allows for up to 20 beds with which to allow COVID-19 patients to be isolated while maintaining social distancing.

"We've been forced to operate at fifty percent capacity because of the coronavirus," Keel said. "This gives us much needed additional space with which to safely supply the care they deserve."

COVID-19 is a dreaded physical health pandemic that has resulted in its share of mental health issues as well. Keel says addressing these issues is also critical to the tribe's overall mission.

"The Chickasaw Nation response to mental health is an integral part of our overall services," he said. "This new construction will enhance our ability to better meet those needs."