Newman Regional Health continues to work around the ongoing spike in COVID-19 patients over the last two months, but that patient increase is causing a lot of adjustments and it’s straining operations at the same time.
On KVOE’s Talk of Emporia on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Bob Wright and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alana Longwell detailed recent issues with getting patients transferred elsewhere if they need additional care. Wright says the hospital uses a special calling service to align transfers as needed.
The transfer process can take up to nine hours for COVID ICU patients, and patients have been transferred as far away as Nebraska and Oklahoma for care.
Wright says the hospital was admitting less than one COVID patient per day two months ago. That number is officially over four a day on average as of the end of August, and the latest report Wednesday from Lyon County Public Health indicated six active hospitalizations. Wright also says traffic at ExpressCare is up “significantly” over the past month, with daily emergency room volume at its highest point in a year — both due to COVID and other health issues.
Meanwhile, the hospital is among many others across the country that are contending with a staffing shortage, which, according to Longwell, affects the hospital’s capacity — sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes on an hourly basis.
Wright says Newman Regional Health has been doing its best to combat staffing shortages through contract labor, overtime and extra shifts from management. The hospital is also using a six-week contract approach where staffers can cover holes in the schedule and receive a stipend in return.
