Sarah Francis
Sarah Francis
Director, Planning Design and Construction
Atrium Health
Charlotte, NC
A member of the alternative care locations task force, Sarah Francis evaluates potential health care sites in the Charlotte, North Carolina area as possibly locations for additional beds—outside of traditional hospital walls—in case of a COVID-19 surge.
The task force has considered existing ambulatory health clinics, tent set-ups, and a building that formerly held a nursing school—all with an eye toward ensuring any potential site could be efficiently and affordably redesigned to provide patients with safe care.
Atrium Health’s existing partnerships with contractors, designers, and vendors meant they were able to mobilize quickly and create a new space at the soon-to-be demolished Carolinas College of Health Sciences—which would feature walls with a bank of outlets, bathrooms, and handwashing stations.
Sarah also focused on the various factors that are required for patient care delivery in a self-contained site, including maintaining proper levels of critical medications, systems to dispense those medications, portable X-ray machines, as well as measures to ensure patient privacy and clean patient areas.