MUSKEGON, MI – Patients seeking emergency care at Mercy Health Muskegon are facing longer than usual wait times.
Mercy Health did not provide specific time frames, but president Gary Allore said “there is no question” wait times have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other hospitals in the United States and Michigan, including Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, have also reported increases in wait times.
Allore primarily attributed the strain on the emergency department to long hospital stays.
“What we’re seeing is that patients are sicker than they were prior to the pandemic,” Allore said Wednesday, Oct. 20. “Patients have put off preventative care and they’re coming to us at a very high acuity level.”
Mercy Health Muskegon reported the average hospital stay jumped from 3.8 days to 4.5 days over the past 18 months. This equates to an additional 35 full beds a day — an entire floor of the hospital.
Related: Long wait times for emergency room care reported at Spectrum Health hospitals in Southwest Michigan
Dr. Justin Grill, chief medical officer for Mercy Health, called the long wait times a “nationwide issue” with Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids detailing similar struggles last month.
“That length of stay in non-COVID patients is much longer than it was before,” Grill said. “The majority of the issue is non-COVID related medical acuity.”
Even though less than 15% of Mercy Health patients are COVID-19 cases, hospital officials also say the pandemic continues to burden the healthcare system.
Muskegon County currently reports 315 weekly COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people with a 13.7 positivity rate.
“As long as our county positivity rate remains high, we know that we’re going to continue to be challenged by the volume of COVID-19 admissions that we’re seeing,” Grill said.
Dr. Kristen Woods, president of Mercy Health Physician Partners, encouraged the community to get a COVID-19 vaccine. She said unvaccinated patients require “more intensive and longer stays” and utilize “more staff and resources.”
COVID-19 patients also caused an uptick in quarantined healthcare workers, Grill said.
Related: Mercy Health’s Hackley Urgent Care space transitions to Hackley Community Care
Adding to the stressed emergency department, Mercy Health Muskegon is facing a staffing shortage. Allore said the healthcare group employs about 4,000 people in Muskegon and currently has 500 open positions.
Allore also addressed concerns shared by some in the community about the shuttered Hackley Hospital leading to longer wait times.
“The reality is, that’s not our major issue at all,” he said. “At the end of the day, we actually have more ER rooms than we did prior to when Mercy and Hackley provided care in two separate locations.”
Mercy Health closed Hackley Hospital last year to consolidate services at the Mercy Campus, 1500 E. Sherman Boulevard.
The former hospital is being demolished to make room for a new Muskegon Public Schools middle school. Mercy Health continues to offer healthcare services at the Hackley Campus professional building and behavioral health unit.
Related: See demolition begin of main Hackley Hospital towers
Additionally, Allore said patient volume is not the issue. Mercy Health experienced a drop in patients from 118,000 a year between 2016 and 2019 to about 90,000 a year now.
Mercy Health officials said the community can help alleviate wait times by only visiting an emergency room for life or death emergencies or after-hours needs including:
- Allergic reactions
- Babies needing immediate care
- Serious eye, head or fall injuries
- Severe burns, abdominal pain, chest pain or rapid bleeding
- Drug overdose or poisoning
- Breathing problems
- Broken bones
- Heart attack or stroke symptoms
- High fevers
- Seizures
Immediate needs that are not life threatening like sprains, stitches and flu symptoms can be treated by an urgent care facility. Non-urgent issues can be treated by a primary care doctor.
More on MLive:
199 people originating from 49 countries become U.S. citizens at Grand Rapids ceremony
City acquires open-air tram for free, fun transport around downtown Muskegon
Old Muskegon Moose Lodge, vacant for nearly two decades, reopens as event center
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