MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The capacity of hospital ICU beds in twin cities exceeds 97%. It is even more crowded outside of intensive care units.
“We’re full in the wards, we’re full of intensive care, we’re full in the emergency room,” said Dr. Bret Haake, chief physician at St. John’s Regions Hospital. Paul.
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Haake says an increase in patients with COVID is combined with more non-COVID patients than there were during the worst time of last year’s pandemic to push regions to a precarious place.
“We find ways to maneuver our fullness to add one more patient, get one more patient home to add one more patient, so we constantly provide beds and patients with different diagnoses to try to make it work,” he said.
Haake compared the situation to a set of musical chairs. He says staff are working overtime and working shift shifts to make everything work.
Margaret Thorsgaard hears this charge at St. Mary’s Hospital. Paul’s United, where he is a technician in the emergency department.
“Most of us don’t go into health care to see people suffer, and that’s what we feel like everything we’re doing now,” Thorsgaard said.
She describes the ability to be at a breaking point as well, and says most shifts have no beds and there are very few beds.
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State data show that patients with COVID are the minority in hospitals in the metropolitan area. They occupy approximately 7.5 percent of all beds.
However, the capacity of the bed is over 98%, so it is likely that anyone going to the emergency room, whether by COVID or not, with long waiting times.
“We need to have priority,” said Montrell Bond, a trauma nurse at Robbinsdale North Memorial Hospital. “Patients come for typical emergency visits, waiting times increase.”
Haake says some patients can wait up to three to four hours. Thorsgaard says he has seen him wait more than seven hours.
Almost all people hospitalized by COVID right now in Regions are not vaccinated. Other medical professionals have reported similar ones in their hospitals.
Haake says getting the vaccine would help give the health system a much-needed respite.
The Minnesota Department of Health is helping to move patients wherever necessary to try to lighten the burden on any hospital.
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A Hennepin Healthcare spokesman told WCCO in a statement: “Like other hospitals across the state, HCMC has experienced above-average patient volumes … Emergency services typically experience an increase due to trauma at this time of year.COVID-19, other illnesses and staffing are also playing an important role in the challenges right now.If you seek care in an emergency department, understand that patients are chosen according to the “The severity of the injury or illness. Wait times depend on the time of day; and those in need of immediate attention are prioritized. At Hennepin Healthcare, waiting times have increased since mid-July.”