BMH has beds open, but not enough staff
Butler Memorial Hospital has beds available in its medical/surgical and intensive care units, but could have more capacity if it weren't for a staffing shortage.
As of Friday, 10 adult COVID-19 patients are in the hospital's 24 adult ICU beds, and seven COVID-19 patients are among the eight patients using the hospital's 22 ventilators, according to the state Department of Health.
Six more ICU beds could be used if the need arises, said Dr. David Rottinghaus, Butler Health System chief medical officer.
The hospital is currently treating 54 COVID-19 patients, according to the department.
In January, when COVID-19 cases were surging, the hospital had about 20 more inpatients everyday and had 50 to 55 ICU beds available, but didn't use all of them, Rottinghaus said.
Staff numbers are one of the differences between now and then.
“Staffing is stopping us from opening more capacity,” Rottinghaus said. “It's challenging. It's not unique to us. It's not unique to Southwestern Pennsylvania. It's a nationwide problem. We have less staff now to do an awful lot of work.”
If BMH reaches its capacity, it can send patients to the health system's Clarion Hospital with patients' permission, he said.
Clarion Hospital has six ICU beds, but two more can be added, and eight ventilators.
Another key difference between now and the winter is the increase in the number of people who have been vaccinated and developed immunity from exposure, Rottinghaus said.
Having fewer COVID-19 cases now has allowed the hospital to treat people with non-COVID medical issues such as knee and hip replacements and heart ailments who delayed over the winter due to the high number of COVID-19 cases, he said.
The hospital has 13 beds, or about 8% of its medical/surgical beds, available, according to the department.
Rottinghaus said that adds up to a lot of work for a smaller staff.
“It's tough going right now because we don't have access to same pool of people we had before. They're working their hearts out. It's stress on physical and mental health with long hours and a large number of patients,” he said.
