Healthcare providers being stretched by COVID

National Guard assisting hospitals

Posted 9/23/21

Hospitals in northern Wyoming and southern Montana are being strained by the recent surge in cases of COVID-19, public health officials say, with it becoming harder to find available beds.

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Healthcare providers being stretched by COVID

National Guard assisting hospitals

Posted

Hospitals in northern Wyoming and southern Montana are being strained by the recent surge in cases of COVID-19, public health officials say, with it becoming harder to find available beds.

Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin, who is an emergency room doctor at Powell Valley Healthcare, said he was recently turned down when he attempted to send a patient to one of the Billings hospitals. It was the first time he’d heard the two facilities say no to such a transfer.

“They’ve never uttered those words in 20 years,” Billin said.

Three weeks ago, the doctor said he had to call six hospitals in four states before finally finding an open bed in Idaho for a critically ill patient.

“I personally have kept patients in the ER in Powell many hours longer than I should have — after car accidents, heart attacks, pneumonia, decompensated congestive heart failure — because there is no hospital that will accept them,” Billin told Park County commissioners at their Monday meeting. “And we’ve kept them all night and turned our ER into a little mini ICU so that patients can get care.”

As of Wednesday, there were 199 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Park County that were considered to be active infections, down by four from a week earlier. However, the number of COVID hospitalizations in Park County rose back to the pandemic high of 17, with 10 patients being cared for at Cody Regional Health and seven at Powell Valley Healthcare. Speaking Monday, Billin indicated the local situation was worse than the state figures showed, because “that doesn’t account for another four, five, six, seven or eight [people] that were sick enough to be intubated and sent out of state to a tertiary care hospital.”

Billin added that some healthcare workers — from radiology technicians to housekeepers to administrators — are getting exhausted.

On Tuesday, Gov. Mark Gordon announced that he had called 95 members of the Wyoming National Guard to assist hospitals in 17 different cities, including Powell, Cody and Lovell.

“Our Guard members truly are Wyoming’s sword and shield, and their commitment to our state is something for which every Wyoming citizen can be thankful,” Gordon said.

One member is already assisting Powell Valley Healthcare while another will begin helping in early October.

“The guardsmen don’t provide any type of clinical care but provide support, such as transporting, light environmental services work, etc.,” said Jim Cannon, a PVHC spokesman. “We certainly appreciate their help!”

As of Wednesday morning, Cannon said there were 15 staff members at the Powell Valley Care Center who were out because of being exposed to COVID-19 or having symptoms of the disease.

“The guidelines for staff to return are fairly strict for long-term care so it takes time to get people back to work,” Cannon said.

Meanwhile, two guard members arrived at Cody Regional Health this week and two more will come Oct. 4. From now through potentially the end of the year, the volunteers from the guard will assist with COVID-19 testing, provide support to residents in long term care, transport patients and provide “other non-clinical support throughout the organization,” said Annalea Avery, a spokeswoman for CRH. 

“Cody Regional Health is still in Crisis Standards of Care and like many other hospitals across the state and the nation, CRH is currently facing staffing issues,” Avery said.

Billin said there’s been a recurring pattern in which more COVID-19 is detected in local sewage, followed by a rise in active infections, then hospitalizations and then deaths. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the deaths of 43 Park County residents have been attributed to the novel coronavirus, coming among nearly 4,100 confirmed and probable cases.

Billin attributed this summer’s surge in cases to the virus’ Delta variant, saying it’s more readily transmitted and potentially a little more virulent.

“These people get a little sicker and [for] a little bit longer,” he said. “And the longer they’re sick, the greater their chance of having a bad outcome.”

He encouraged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, to stay home when sick and to wear a mask while indoors.

As of Monday, 10,957 people in Park County were fully vaccinated, according to state data, accounting for about 37.5% of the overall population. That’s about 0.5% above the state as a whole, but well below the national average of 54.9%, according to CDC data.

Billin previously gathered data showing that just 2.2% of Park County’s COVID infections between May and August came among fully vaccinated people — and he plans to soon compile data on how many hospitalized patients are vaccinated.

“We feel it will really help with public confidence in vaccines,” he said.

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