Newman Regional Health continues at staff-based capacity — or close to that level — as we close the week.
The hospital’s latest COVID-19 Dashboard announced Thursday shows the daily patient census at or above 10 beds claimed per day since Jan. 6. The daily census peaked at 15 on Jan. 8, with 14 patients for the last reporting day Wednesday.
As you can imagine, Newman Regional Health’s staff — both employees of the hospital and contract workers — have been stretched thin throughout the pandemic and especially now. CEO Bob Wright says there are a lot of sustained issues with the continued surge in cases.
Other data points from the dashboard show less time to transfer patients, with a median time of about 2 hours, 15 minutes per patient this week versus 2 hours, 28 minutes last week. The longest wait time this week has been a little over 13 hours.
The percentage of vaccinated residents needing hospitalizations continues to increase gradually. Just over 20 percent of the 122 hospitalized patients are fully vaccinated, the first time the dashboard has had that stat go above 20 percent.
With up to 90 residents per day seeking coronavirus tests, Newman Regional Health is no longer offering back-to-work, back-to-school and back-to-athletics tests for the time being so those tests can be available for those more immediately in need. Symptomatic residents can call 620-343-6801 or their provider to get screened over the phone and possibly get scheduled for a test.
