SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– Cox Health says it plans to convert one floor of its medical center to a ward-style hospital. The new facility will be specifically designated as a place to treat those with COVID-19, a respiratory illness that can sometimes require ventilator support.
Cox says the “hospital- within a hospital” should be open by April 9, 2020.
“When Cox South doubled in size five years ago, several floors of the new tower were left empty so we could develop the space as needs arose,” Steve Edwards, president and CEO of CoxHealth, said in a press release on Wednesday, March 25. “A need in our community is now here, and we are ready to help our patients have the best chance of recovery that we can give them by developing some of that space. I pray it is never used.”
Cox says its COVID-19 ward’s large, open layout will offer “a greater opportunity to care for patients.”
