/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/YCXMOFZ2NBBRFGII2MZJGWYPEY.png)
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - As Springfield hospitals face a surge in hospitalizations from the coronavirus, it is also facing a surge in people seeking care in emergency rooms.
Mercy hospital staff reports 129 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which hospital officials are saying is the highest number they’ve seen. As more show up for emergency care, it’s impacting ER’s and creating longer wait times.
Brandon Shalander waited with his mother in the Mercy ER for ten hours. Shalander says it’s not a hospital issue but a community issue.
”You can only work a person so much,” Shalander says. “You can only do what you can do with so many people and I believe that they were at and beyond that limit with what they were dealing with.”
Shalander took his mom to the emergency room at Mercy when she started having chest pains.
“As each hour ticked by, I was wondering why isn’t she being seen by a doctor,” Shalander says. “Do they not think it’s serious? Is it serious and they just can’t get to her?”
Shalander says the number of patients he saw in the emergency room as he stepped inside scared him.
“I’ve been to the hospital a lot,” Shalander says. “I’ve been there when it’s busy. I’ve been there when we’ve had to wait. This was definitely the worst in 37 years that I can remember seeing it.”
Mercy’s Emergency Trauma Care Executive Director Vicki Good says they’re doing everything they can to get care to patients as quickly as possible. That includes running tests while patients are in the waiting room.
“While you’re waiting out there we’re starting all of your care so that when you get to the back you can see a physician or see a provider where they can quickly make a decision as far as do you need to be admitted or not,” Good says.
Good says the hospital is overwhelmed with the number of COVID-19 patients and traumas coming to the ER. If it is a minor illness, Good says to contact your primary care physician first. Good says the long wait time is just as aggravating for the staff as it is for the patients.
“We want to provide that care to those patients,” Good says. “That’s why we went into this profession is to be able to care for people and so when we can’t do the best job we know we need to be doing it causes increasing amounts of stress and burnout. The things our team is doing is nothing short of heroic.”
Shalander’s mom got tested in the waiting room and was discharged, not considered a critical case. Shalander is asking people to offer patience to the nurses.
“From everything I saw the nurses and aids and everyone else, they were just completely stretched to their maximum capacity,” Shalander says.
CoxHealth and Mercy both say if people get vaccinated, it will lighten the load on the emergency room and decrease the long wait times.
To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com
Copyright 2021 KY3. All rights reserved.
"wait" - Google News
July 10, 2021 at 09:55AM
https://ift.tt/3hXPA1M
COVID-19 hospitalizations puts pressure on Springfield emergency rooms, increasing wait time for patients - KY3
"wait" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35qAU4J
https://ift.tt/2Ssyayj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "COVID-19 hospitalizations puts pressure on Springfield emergency rooms, increasing wait time for patients - KY3"
Post a Comment