COVID patient recounts experience at Providence field hospital

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – A Cranston man spent about two days in the Providence field hospital, and told ABC 6 News he preferred it over a regular hospital during the second COVID surge.

He spent several days at Rhode Island Hospital last week before the field hospital was opened at the Rhode Island Convention Center to alleviate overcrowding.

“[Rhode Island Hospital is] so scary. You hear people screaming, yelling, coughing, screaming for their loved ones, ‘how come I can’t have my sister here? Where’s my mom?’” Samuel Rachiele said.

He told ABC 6 News he was packed into the emergency room and was on oxygen.

“It makes you feel so depressed. So, out of it. Like, ‘Am I going to be out of here? Or are they going to take me out of here?’” Rachiele said.

Rachiele finally got out of the hospital as soon as the field hospital opened at the convention center on Dec. 2.

“They said you can walk, you can do everything on your own, so we’re going to ship you there for a while, and I said OK, I don’t mind,” Rachiele said.

The field hospital in Providence can handle about 600 beds.

ABC 6 News asked Rachiele if the level of care at the field hospital was comparable to the level of care at Rhode Island Hospital:

“Just as good. Believe me the same care, the same people that take care of you; [they] are generous, and loving, and warming, and everything,” Rachiele said.

According to Rachiele, the field hospital is a lot quieter than Rhode Island Hospital right now.

“All you hear was people coughing [at the field hospital],” Rachiele said.

He wasn’t able to sleep at Rhode Island Hospital.

“I mean, there was beds coming in and out, people coming in and out, people screaming,” Rachiele said. “I saw the virus.”

As of Monday, the field hospital in Providence was averaging between 20-22 patients, according to a spokesperson for Lifespan.