Harborview nurses take health care to Seattle streets, help reduce ER visits [Video]

SEATTLE – Harborview Medical Center alerted staff to critical capacity issues this week, an issue that was exacerbated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and left the hospital facing a dire shortage of beds amid a surge in patient admissions.

Responding to the heightened pressure on the Level One Trauma Center, nurses Kate Smith and Jaimie Pechan devised a proactive strategy to curb repeated emergency visits by heart failure patients. Opting for a mobile approach, they traded their scrubs for car keys, delivering crucial medical interventions directly to patients’ homes.

“I’m confident that there were a lot of people who thought that this was a really good idea because it’s so clearly a need in the healthcare system, but the pandemic kind of created this perfect storm,” said Pechan.

“We all know that hospitals are under pressure in terms of their emergency rooms and bed space,” remarked Smith. “Especially through the pandemic, but it continues. I mean health care is …