![]() ![]() We don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for COVID-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident.” In his announcement on Thursday, Jeppesen pleaded with Idaho residents, stating that "best way to end crisis standards of care is for more people to get vaccinated." “The numbers are increasing at an alarming rate and we do not see a peak in sight,” he said at a briefing on Tuesday. When Idaho declared it would ration care in its northern region last week, the state's health and welfare director, Dave Jeppesen, called it a “last resort.”Įarlier this week, he said crisis standards of care were “imminent” for hospitals in the rest of the state given that Idaho continues to set new records for hospitalizations and patients in the intensive care unit and on ventilators due to Covid. Kootenai Health is not the only hospital that is establishing these new care standards and northern Idaho is not the only part of the state that may be implementing them. ![]() From July to the end of September last year, they turned down 18 patient transfers. ![]() The challenge of transfers added to the pressure for Idaho to establish crisis standards of care, which means doctors can triage patients dependent on bed space availability and health care workers without specific training can be brought in to work in the ICU.įor Idaho's health leaders, the number of hospital transfers that Kootenai Health had to decline because of the Covid surge crystalized the need to change care standards last week.Ī regional transfer hub for patients in urgent need of critical care - typically things like car accidents, heart attacks and strokes - Kootenai Health has had to turn down 392 patient transfer requests in the month of August because of their number of Covid patients. "Seven to eight hours might mean that patient won't survive." "You're taking seven to eight hours to call a bunch of hospitals to see if one will take your patient who might face a time-sensitive emergency," Pate said. Some doctors in Idaho have called as far south as Texas and as far east as Georgia. Now, he said, doctors are being forced to call 30 or more hospitals across multiple states to find a bed for a single patient in hospitals with which they have little to no relationship. It often required patients to be taken by plane or helicopter and close coordination between medical facilities. Luke's Health System in Boise, said that because of how far Idaho's towns are from metropolitan areas, it was common prior to the pandemic for doctors to send their patients to cities like Spokane, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and other far-flung cities in the region. David Pate, a member of Idaho's coronavirus task force and the former president and CEO of St. The easiest access to medical treatment might be across a border, rather than within a state's boundaries.īut the relationships between these hospitals runs deep.ĭr. While many of the states are known for their beautiful scenery and wide open terrains, the access to critical medical care can be difficult for the small rural towns that pepper its landscape. Prior to the pandemic, experts said borders between states in the region were blurry when it came to patient care. The need for ICU bed space is affecting a range of patients: those suffering from Covid, as well as people who have had heart attacks or strokes or were involved in accidents, for instance. Corrine Brown, a critical care nurse, administers an anti-viral medication to a Covid-19 patient at Kootenai Health regional medical center in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, on Sept. "It really is a minute-by-minute assessment of where beds are open, and hospitals saying we don't know where we're going to put the next one." U.S. "It's just nonstop trying to find placement for these patients and the care that they need," said Brian Whitlock, the president and CEO of the Idaho Hospital Association, who noted that hospitals across the state are struggling with the same issue. That's all in response to the Covid surge that in recent weeks has taken over much of Idaho - a state with one of the nation's lowest vaccination rates. The hospital received permission from the state to begin rationing care last week. Kootenai Health, a hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has already converted a conference room into an overflow Covid unit, started paying traveling nurses higher rates and brought in a military medical unit. ![]()
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