A private blessing was held Monday morning for a forward triage facility at Mercy Hospital Springfield.
The new facility is located just outside the hospital’s north emergency entrance. It opened right after the blessing and is being used to quickly provide help and masks for those who think they might have COVID-19, according to hospital officials.
The purpose is, in part, to protect patients who are visiting the ER for unrelated reasons. If COVID-19 is suspected, the patient will be isolated from the rest of the patients and treated in that space. If the suspected COVID-19 patient is seriously ill, they will be routed through a separate entrance to minimize exposure to the waiting room and other patients, according to Mercy.
