CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020 - 10

COLLEGE

BACKGROUND PROVES
INVALUABLE
Her background working at the 28th
Combat Support Hospital, helping
build field hospitals for the Army and
analyzing supply and equipment needs
was crucial to ensure that the new field
hospitals have the necessary equipment
to meet the needs of patients affected
by Covid-19.

Serendipity
INCOMING CU NURSING MASTER'S STUDENT USES HER
EXPERTISE BUILDING HOSPITALS FOR THE ARMY TO HELP
BUILD AND SCALE UP THE NEW DENVER CONVENTION
CENTER FIELD HOSPITAL
By Dana Brandorff

hen Captain Taylor Allen, BSN, arrived in Denver
in March for an internship with the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment
(CDPHE) before entering CU Nursing's Master's
program, she never thought her army experience
would be in demand. Boy was she wrong.

CPT. Allen, BSN,
and faculty
member Scott
Harpin, DNP,
survey work in
progress at the
new Denver
Convention
Center field
hospital.

"The day I arrived, Colorado declared an emergency because of
Covid-19," said CPT. Taylor Allen.
Instead of being assigned to newborn screenings as anticipated,
she was reassigned to the SEOC (State Emergency Operations
Center) where she provided insight on nursing needs for the
new field hospitals the state ordered in response to the pandemic. The hospitals are anticipated to be used for patients
who are no longer in need of critical or intensive care but are
convalescing prior to discharge home.

CU College of Nursing | Spring/Summer 2020

"I scale hospitals and determine inventory - what to order and the amounts
to order. It is based on what epidemiologists think will happen. Their models
help us decide what the hospital will
need to operate optimally in this unique
scenario," said Allen. Everything from
the number of oxygen tanks to nasal
cannulas to masks, personal protection equipment, and what fluids to
order - anything you can think of that
is necessary to treat patients and help
overburdened hospitals during this
time.
"Having someone with her unique skill
set and experience was an unexpected
boon," said Task Force Commander
Scott Bookman. "It was truly serendipitous. And we were lucky to have her."

TWO-YEAR PROJECT
TAKES TWO WEEKS
As part of the SEOC team, the Army
Corps of Engineers consulted Allen on
things like patient flow and the optimal height for oxygen for ease of use
of the nurses at the newly converted
Denver Convention Center.
The build miraculously took two weeks.
Unheard of in construction today, "It
was amazing. I've never seen anything
like it before.
For Allen, watching the pace and
professionalism and what they accomplished in two weeks was astounding.
"People say government moves at a
snail's pace. That was not the case."

CU Nursing - Spring/Summer 2020

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