Patients suspected of having COVID-19 are screened inside a makeshift triage center outside El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, California. The hospital is trying to keep patients who do not require acute care out of the hospital to limit spread.
Nurse Brianna Mendoza wheels a patient with coronavirus symptoms into the triage tent on May 28, 2020. “I’ve had a few people saying that they have had to cross the border to come here” because they prefer to get care in the U.S., Mendoza says.
Sylvia Cervantes, a medical assistant, assesses a patient who might have COVID-19. Cervantes usually works in the oncology department but was assigned to help in the triage tent.
A health care worker prepares to treat a COVID-19 patient on the medical-surgical floor. On May 28, the hospital had 41 coronavirus patients.
A registered nurse wearing protective equipment treats a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit. Ten beds in the hospital’s 12-bed ICU were filled with coronavirus patients.
Health care workers must wear a special respirator, a gown and gloves before entering a COVID-19 patient’s room.
Hospital staff members tending to COVID-19 patients must put on full-body protective suits to enter an isolation room in the emergency department.
El Centro Regional Medical Center is about 20 minutes north of Calexico, California, an ordinarily bustling border town with street shops and food vendors. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, the streets are quiet and nearly empty.
People make their way to Mexicali, Mexico, through the border crossing at Calexico. According to the U.S. Department of State, about 1.5 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico. In the Mexican state of Baja California, there are more than 5,380 confirmed coronavirus cases. Mexicali, the capital, has at least 2,630, more than any other city in the state.
About two hours to the west, Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista has had roughly 35 to 40 COVID-19 patients every day in recent weeks, says Dr. Juan Tovar, an emergency physician and chief operations executive. That’s quadruple the number of coronavirus patients the hospital was treating at the beginning of April.
Paloma Garza-Johnson is a registered nurse at Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista.
Garza-Johnson dons her personal protective gear in the hallway outside an ICU patient’s room on May 29.
ICU staffers sometimes communicate with one another through the windows using a whiteboard.
Registered nurse Christina Campolongo (left), certified nursing assistant Vanessa Aquino and registered nurse Paloma Garza-Johnson turn a sedated coronavirus patient into the prone position, face down, which may allow more oxygen into the patient’s lungs.
The Rev. Mark Weber, coordinator of chaplaincy services at Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista (left), and the Rev. Emmanuel Ochigbo, a chaplain, pray outside a coronavirus patient’s room before performing the sacrament of healing.
Ochigbo wets his finger with oil before entering the room to anoint the patient.
Ochigbo administers the sacrament of healing. The Anointing of the Sick is given to seriously ill and dying people. Ochigbo has modified it for COVID-19 patients, applying oil only to the forehead and feet.