Local hospitals are struggling with overcrowding of facilities and understaffing. Now, they are even forced to redirect ambulances to other healthcare facilities.
“We felt like a failure,” said Danny Greig, medical director of the emergency department at MidMichigan Health in Midland.
Since September, the hospital has redirected four times out of 10 hours, Grieg said. One big reason for that is the number of patients, says Grieg.
“We’re breaking monthly records. Starting in May, we’ve basically set a new monthly volume record, and we’re aiming to set another new record this month. ,” said Grieg.
Another factor is staff shortages.
“There aren’t enough nurses. There aren’t enough support staff. And what’s happening in our area is that if one of our major hospitals diverges, it puts extra strain on the hospital. next causes them to veer, and that’s a domino effect,” said Greig.
Greig told TV5 a combination of problems contributed to the increase in the number of patients. Covid-19 is part of it but only 37 of the 250 patients there are dealing with covid.
Greig said there are other patients who have not received care during the pandemic who are getting worse. Regardless of the cause, the result is a hospital that is nearly full of patients with staff members doing what they can to treat them.
“There were days like today when you have 45 patients in a 24-bed emergency department, you know those things happen a few times a month. It’s unusual and you’ll say ‘oh wow that’s bad. bad days we’ve had ‘. Now every day is a bad day and it’s taking hold of the people. And the morale isn’t the same anymore but I think we’re fine,” said Greig. and be patient with us. When you get to the ER, you may have to wait a little longer. We are watching you. We will attend to your needs. We will see you. You will be fine. care.”
