NEW ORLEANS — March 9, 2020 marked the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic in Louisiana.
That’s when a patient being treated for pneumonia at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in downtown New Orleans tested positive for the virus.
“I don’t think it occurred to us that it could be so close to home because there were no other patients in this state,” Dr. Caitlin Martin-Klinger said.
Dr. Martin-Klinger called that first COVID case in the state the canary in the coal mine.
She was part of the team that treated the patient, a veteran from Jefferson Parish.
“That first case was the case that allowed Louisiana to know, okay it’s here we have to get ready,” Martin-Klinger said. “We have to think about it in all of our patients.”
The numbers grew quickly at the VA in New Orleans. Sixty-five patients tested positive for the Coronavirus within two weeks of that first diagnosis. At the time, that was some of the highest case counts throughout the VA system and the nation.
“Being at the beginning of the pandemic, at a time when we knew so little about it because it was a very new virus and so not having a lot the national guidance, not having the guidelines that we’re used to, it’s very stressful,” Dr. Martin-Klinger said.
The hospital has since treated close to 1,500 COVID patients.
“We’ve been able to innovate,” Dr. Martin-Klinger said. “We’ve been able to be at the cutting edge of things in a lot of ways. We at the VA are very much a learning organization. We took this opportunity to show some resilience and really plan ahead.”
The medical center is now focused on prevention, getting the veteran population vaccinated.
Army veteran Charlie Anders got his shot this morning.
“All I got is good stuff to say about these folks,” Anders said. “Man, they take care of business. They’re really good at what they do. They’ve got it all down to a science.”
A year after that first Coronavirus case, Dr. Martin-Klinger is hopeful for the future.
“A year ago, I don’t think I would have said in one year this is where we’re going to be at,” she said. “I think we’re at a startlingly better place than I would have expected.”
The VA is now planning to recognize its front-line healthcare workers and hold a memorial for patients who died from the Coronavirus, later this month.
