LIMA — New coronavirus hospitalizations have surged 400% in October across Lima hospitals and the region’s critical-access hospitals, straining healthcare workers and forcing conversations about how to sustain elective procedures and regular hospital operations at a time when COVID-19 infections appear to be multiplying exponentially.
“We’re at a tipping point right now,” said Dr. Matt Owens, chief clinical officer for Mercy Health-St. Rita’s Medical Center.
In the last month, Owens said, St. Rita’s has admitted more than 70 COVID-19 patients. Four weeks ago, that number was just 17.
Lima Memorial Health System is now treating 16 COVID-19 patients as well, and critical-access hospitals across the region have seen an uptick in new coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization.
“Our plea to you, the general public, is simply this: We need your help,” said Dr. Dennis Morris, chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs for Lima Memorial Health System. “We are at a point where we made some efforts, great efforts, to try to mitigate this pandemic. And I know that you’re tired of hearing this — and we’re tired of saying this — we have to slow the spread.”
If the trend continues, Owens said, hospitals may have to consider postponing some elective procedures or divert patients to other hospitals to ensure there are enough healthcare workers to assist with coronavirus patients.
Such was the case on Sunday evening, when the St. Rita’s emergency department was so overwhelmed that incoming patients were temporarily diverted to nearby hospitals.
“A nurse can only take care of so many patients safely at a time,” Owens said, “so while we have lots of beds and lots of rooms in the city of Lima, what we don’t have is an abundance of nurses and other types of healthcare clinicians that can step right in.”
The hospitals are actively recruiting retired and traveling healthcare workers, particularly registered nurses and respiratory therapists, to help manage the surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
But Morris said hospitals across the U.S. are competing over a limited pool of skilled nurses and healthcare workers, which in turn increases the cost of recruiting essential staff at a time when hospitals are still reeling financially from the postponement of elective surgeries this past spring.
“One of the things we have to remember is that while these COVID-19 numbers are exponentially increasing, we are still trying to manage the strokes and the heart attacks and the automobile accidents and everything else that we normally see day to day,” Morris said.
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