Médecins Sans Frontières - COVID-19 Care Centre

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF318920

Date taken / Date Recorded 28/04/2020 12:00 AM

Country United Kingdom

Commissioning section MSF-UNITED KINGDOM

Photographer / videographer / producer Sandy McKee

Copyright Sandy McKee/MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Editor's rating ★★★★★★ (B)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 3m48s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 267.10 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist 00:00 - 00:04 - GEOTAG: London, UK

00:02 - 00:08 At Covid Care here in London, we treat patients with Covid-19

00:05 - 00:12 - IDENT GRAPHIC
Dr Alan Pereira
MSF - Medical Team Leader

00:08 - 00:13 who are experiencing homelessness, I guess with a twofold purpose:

00:13 - 00:16 one is actually decreasing the risk of transmission - so allowing people to safely self isolate.

00:16 - 00:21 Secondly - providing an environment where we can monitor patients on a regular basis

00:21 - 00:26 to make sure that they don't deteriorate and if they do get sicker, they're able to

00:26 - 00:28 be referred to hospital in time.

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00:31 - 00:35 UCLH are leading and MSF are providing medical staff, and there's no other organisations

00:35 - 00:41 such as Thamesreach who are actually managing the housing and accommodation at the centre.

00:42 - 00:48 MSF is helping staff the project and so we can currently accommodate 40-60 patients, if required.

00:48 - 00:53 We have 3-4 nurses in the daytime and 2 at night.

00:53 - 00:57 In addition to that, we're also helping to support infection prevention and control

00:57 - 01:02 and keeping this centre running using a lot of experience we've gained in the field.

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01:03 - I've only ever done emergency missions, so I stepped into this one with that frame of mind,

01:04 - 01:10 - IDENT GRAPHIC
Louis Dowse
MSF - Logistician

01:10 - 01:15 realising that there wasn'y going to be anything set up in advance, so it was

01:15 - 00:20 going to be a very hands on job trying to get everything from infection control

01:21 - 01:24 through to just living conditions and storage and trying to make sure that

01:25 - 01:28 the MSF engine here is running.

01:29 - 01:35 For day-today, for the rounds it'll be surgical masks, face shields, gloves, gowns

01:36 - 01:41 aprons, scrubs - you know, all the usual PPE items you would find in a hospital setting.

01:42 - 01:46 IDENT GRAPHIC
Nicole Hart
MSF - Nurse

01:42 - 01:46 In my previous missions, I have had experience of epidemic interventions.

01:46 - 01:50 We go around and do nurses rounds so we go around checking our patients.

01:50 - 01:55 Making sure they're okay - that they're not having symptoms from COVID - checking observations,

01:55 - 02:00 which is really important. Especially their oxygen levels because that will really tell us

02:00 - 02:05 if they are in a good condition or not and that can take us a couple of hours to do that.

02:05 - 02:10 Not because of it's work intensive but because of all the cleaning between patients

02:10 - 02:13 because of the risk of infection.

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02:14 - 02:20 When you talk to your teams in the field and people talk about doing this and helping their community

02:20 - 02:25 and their families and their country... you accept it, you can see it but

02:25 - 02:30 then sort of being in that position where to a certain extent, you're doing that...

02:30 - 02:36 it's just a humbling place to stand within it all. I mean, with the level of the crisis and

02:36 - 02:42 stepping in and doing what we're doing... it's very similar to an emergency set up

02:42 - 02:49 if you're coming in with the first wave. I think the biggest shock or difference being

02:49 - 02:54 is that you never really have it in your head that you're going to be doing this in your own back garden

02:54 - 03:01 and doing this in your home country, it kind of hit a little bit at first, I think.

03:02 - 03:07 Starting a new project is never easy and especially when you repurpose a centre to

03:07 - 03:11 be able to take care of patients with a specific set of needs.

03:11 - 03:17 This is a unique time in the world when things that none of us imagined would happen

03:17 - 03:19 in our lifetimes, are actually coming to pass.

03:19 - 03:25 There was a gap and as MSFers with experience in outbreaks, who couldn't

03:25 - 03:34 currently deploy to other places in missions, it's a good thing that we're able to put

03:34 - 03:37 our experience to use in our home base here.

OUTRO
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COVID-19 Care Centre - London (INTL)

COVID-19 Care Centre - London (INTL)