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An Oregon hospital struggling to keep up with the latest COVID-19 surge averaged one virus patient dying every six hours over a seven-day period, according to the hospital's CEO.
Win Howard, CEO of Asante Three Rivers Medical Center in Grants Pass, said Wednesday that 28 people with COVID-19 had died at the hospital over the previous seven days, calling it "absolutely heartbreaking."
The 125-bed hospital was treating 146 patients, half of which were sick with COVID-19, with 91 percent unvaccinated, according to hospital officials. According to the hospital's vice president of nursing, the youngest COVID-19 patient in the facility was 27, while the oldest was 92, but many are in their 30s and 40s. The hospital was operating over its normal capacity due to an emergency approval from the Oregon Health Authority.
"This is a very concerning time for all of us," Howard said. "This is very, very serious. We are in an absolute full-blown health care crisis."
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Oregon National Guard soldiers were on the medical center's campus helping with nonclinical duties, 110 contract nurses were on their way to the Rogue Valley to help area hospitals, and a refrigerated truck was on the way to Josephine County to hold bodies, if needed.
Later that evening, protesters outside the hospital complained about a state vaccination mandate for health care workers, who must be vaccinated or have an exception by October 18 or face termination. And the refrigerated truck was being set up at an undisclosed location, according to Mike Weber, the county's public health director.
The hospital's 12-bed intensive care unit at noon Wednesday was holding 18 COVID-19 patients, some of them in cramped, doubled-up rooms, according to Laura Magstadt, a registered nurse and the hospital's vice president of nursing. Doubling up most of the rooms gives the unit 22 beds. At one point recently, 21 patients were housed there.
Ventilators that help patients breathe were in short supply, because of heavy demand.
"We are not out of ventilators," Magstadt said. "We have come close. We have not run out, but we have gotten close."
Patients were being kept in recovery areas instead of in regular rooms, with some on gurneys, curtains separating them. Others were in cardio and ultrasound areas.
"We are trying to find any space we can safely care for patients," Magstadt said.
Hospital spokeswoman Lauren Van Sickle said she wasn't sure where the refrigerated trailer would be parked, but it won't be at the hospital. As for the protest, she said it wasn't aimed at Asante. She didn't give a precise number of workers who had been vaccinated, but said it "increased from 64 percent over the past couple weeks."
Magstadt was thankful for the soldiers, 32 of whom arrived Aug. 21, with up to 40 expected to stay through September. Most of them are from Southwest Oregon and have put aside their usual work to help.
"We are absolutely grateful," Magstadt said. "They are doing many things, everything from washing dishes to cleaning rooms, answering phones, running supplies. It has been wonderful to have them. We greatly appreciate them."
She also was thankful for the pending arrival of the contract nurses, who will help with critical care and medical-surgical care. They start arriving today, although it's to be determined how many will be assigned to Three Rivers.
It was "the best news," Magstadt said. "It's just a tremendous help."
Hospital workers, she said, "have been working an unbelievable amount of shifts."
Several other doctors spoke:
Surgeon Megan Frost expressed concern about the cancellation of urgent surgeries and procedures for people with cancer and at risk of stroke and heart attack.
"We don't have the space or the staff," she said.
It might be weeks or months before they can be cared for properly.
"I know you have cancer. We can't take care of you right now," she said. "That's a weight on them that they have to live with."
She said there have been angry conversations. Rationing care is a difficult decision.
"That doesn't sit with us very well," Frost said. "These are still people with life-threatening conditions that we are still having to delay their care."
Hundreds of procedures have been delayed.
Surgeon Estin Yang said the recent spike in hospitalizations is predicted to peak early next week and possibly sooner, based on an Aug. 26 forecast from Oregon Health & Science University.
Early in the pandemic, Southwest Oregon was spared in large part, and there was a major spike last winter, but the current spike is the worst yet, Yang said. At last count, 51 local residents died in August from COVID-19 complications, compared with 20 in December and 20 in January.
"People are asking, 'Why now? Why us?'" he said.
He pointed to earlier in the pandemic, when fewer people got infected, but fewer people then developed natural immunity from having the disease. He also pointed to the recent arrival of the more aggressive Delta variant of the virus. And he said summertime means people are meeting in large groups and traveling.
Together, that's "a very good recipe and environment" for the current surge, he said.
