(Fox 11 Online)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — ICU space in northeast Wisconsin is at a premium as the COVID-19 surge continues.
Ken Nelson is the Chief Nursing Officer with HSHS St. Vincent says the number of ICU beds available isn’t just an issue of physical space.
“The traditional definition has been physical space,” Nelson told WTAQ on Wednesday. “But we also need to acknowledge that there is a staffing component that we are always looking at.”
The surge in COVID-19 cases, which experts say is the result of the more-contagious Delta variant, has led to some healthcare officials sounding the alarm.
“We typically run at near capacity,” said Nelson. “That is with all sorts of patients not just COVID patients.”
Nelson says staffing has taken a hit in recent months as nurses are lost to retirements and other jobs.
“We’ve seen some nurses look to other areas [of nursing], like non-acute areas, where it’s less stressful,” said Nelson. “That can maybe speak to some of that burnout.”
On Tuesday, Thedacare CEO Dr. Imran Andrabi also talked about burnout.
“They have been trying to take the hill [of the pandemic] for–this is the fourth time around,” said Andrabi, referring to the four waves of COVID-19 seen so far. “And it’s with the same people.”
A sentiment shared by both Nelson and Dr. Andrabi is that healthcare workers need a break. At Thedacare, Andrabi says that means more hiring, and not just more nurses. He says they need custodial staff, kitchen staff, and more.
“I would say we probably need somewhere in the vicinity of 200 people in addition to what we have today,” Andrabi told reporters. “To give some relief to the people on the front lines.”
“I would like…to get enough folks here and trained up to go to give some of these nurses who have been working for the last year and a half [a break],” Nelson said.
Both men shared another sentiment, as well: they’re urging the public to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
HSHS operates nine hospitals in Illinois and six in Wisconsin. Throughout all of those hospitals, according to numbers shared Wednesday, 149 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those hospitalizations 123 are unvaccinated.
“Sixteen of them are on ventilators, and of those, 15 are unvaccinated, and one is vaccinated,” said Nelson. “All I need to do is look at those numbers, and I know the answer.”
Nelson says that HSHS has programs available to help train up nursing assistants to become full Registered Nurses and that they are recruiting all the help they can in order to keep up with demand.
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