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V O L . X X V I N O. X I I J U N E 1 , 2 0 2 0 18 L E W I S T O N / A U B U R N / W E S T E R N M A I N E A surge plan was drawn up that could expand the system from 300 beds across the three hospitals to 450, and from 20 ICU beds to 80, says Alexander, the chief medical officer. e plan also could triple the capacity of the morgue. "Other hospi- tals in metropolitan areas were dealing with it, so we had to have that plan in place," he says. Alexander coordinated with the chief medical officers of MaineGeneral in Augusta and St. Mary's in Lewiston so the hospitals could help bear the oth- ers' loads, if necessary. "It felt like we were making plans and waiting, making plans and wait- ing," he says. at didn't last long. Maine's first COVID-19 case walked through CMMC's emergency room door on March 10. 'This is real' "It came at us pretty quickly," says Stevenson, the director of emergency medicine. e medical staff braced for a surge. "We really thought we were going to be overrun, that was our mindset." Alexander was relieved, in a way. "We were starting to create some level of restrictions and that's hard to do in a public health crisis before the threat is obvious." At least people would know it's real, he remembers thinking. e case was made public by Gov. Janet Mills in a March 12 news confer- ence, and the state began to shut down. By the end of the week, the hospital had two more cases. Soon, the hospital would cancel elective procedures, and eventually furlough 300 employees. On March 13, Ponti, chief of nursing operations, and her husband went out to dinner. e restaurant owner said he didn't think the threat was real, everyone was overreacting. "But we knew it was real," Ponti says. "Very real." 'My job on steroids' By early April the hospital was perform- ing 25 to 50 tests a day, with between five and 10 a week positive, Alexander says. His job has been COVID-19 "100% seven days a week." "I got to point where I could no longer control communication through my email inbox, so I put a message on there, 'I'm responding to the COVID- 19 pandemic, so it may take me several days to get back to your email if it's not related.'" His coworkers were in the same situ- ation. "It required our full and undivided attention," he says. e incident command team met three times a day, seven days a week for the first two months. Kenny-Lynch never doubted her preparation. "is is what my job is on a daily basis," she says. "COVID is my job on steroids." at said, it could be overwhelming, particularly as things changed so fast. "Once you put something out, to educate, something [from the CDC] will come along the next day and you say, 'OK, I take that back.'" 'There's other things' "ree hospitals, three different coun- ties, three very different experiences," says Wright, who leads the Bridgton and Rumford hospitals. Bridgton Hospital, in Cumberland County, had an early surge of testing, and ultimately 14 positive cases, then cooled off. In Rumford, there was one positive test. Wright was concerned that people who should be seeking medical care weren't. He was right. "After about a month we started getting some pretty sick patients," he says. "at's the big- gest fear, right? You do all this planning, » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E THE POWER OF GOOD We may not know what's next, but when we work together, we'll get through. goodwillnne.org Our strength is in our communities. F O C U S John Alexander, chief medical officer at Central Maine Healthcare, led the incident command response that put together the health care system's pandemic plan. P H O T O / J O S E L E I VA C O U R T E S Y C M H

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