Indiana Hospitals At Capacity Seek National Guard Help
Thirteen hospitals were reported to be at capacity with both covid and non-covid cases, and "several" more are expected to fill next week, so the local National Guard has been called in. Meanwhile, a nursing shortage in Kentucky has reached emergency levels, according to the governor.
Indianapolis Star:
IU Health Requests Indiana National Guard Help In Its Hospitals
As hospitals across the state fill to capacity with both COVID and non-COVID patients, Indiana National Guard teams are providing staff support in 13 hospitals around the state with "several others" expected to join them next week, Indiana Department of Health officials said in an email. (Rudavsky, 12/9)
AP:
Pandemic Nurse Shortage: Kentucky Gov Declares An Emergency
Kentucky’s governor declared the state’s chronic nursing shortage to be an emergency Thursday, taking executive actions amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to boost enrollment in nurse-training programs. Kentucky is projected to need more than 16,000 additional nurses by 2024, to help fill gaps caused by retirements and people leaving the profession, Gov. Andy Beshear said. His new executive order includes “immediate actions that we believe will provide some relief,” the Democratic governor said. “Obviously long term there is a lot to do.” (Schreiner, 12/9)
Stateline:
With Too Few Nurses, It Won't Take Much To Overwhelm Hospitals This Winter
Even as a new COVID-19 variant starts to spread in the United States, staff shortages have made it impossible for many hospitals to operate at full capacity. That means they’re less prepared to manage an influx of patients this winter, whether those patients have complications from COVID-19 or other significant health problems. Hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency surgeries, struggling to quickly find beds for patients and failing to meet the minimum nurse-patient ratios experts recommend. Some even have had to turn away critical patients. While hospitals are under the most strain in Midwestern and Northeastern states where COVID-19 cases are surging, workforce shortages also are creating problems in Southern states where cases are relatively low—for now. (Quinton, 12/9)
New Hampshire Public Radio:
N.H. Health Care Worker Shortage Causes Limited Response To COVID Spike
Construction took longer than expected, but workers are now finally finishing the newly-renovated Maplewood Nursing Home, a county-run facility in Westmoreland. But rather than accepting patients from a waiting list that runs more than two-dozen names deep, the recently spruced up Maplewood is doing the opposite: A shortage of workers, from nurses to janitors to food service, forced Maplewood to shut down a portion of its building. Despite having the space to care for 150 patients, just 95 currently live there. (Bookman, 12/9)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Wisconsin COVID-19: Hospital ICU Beds, Staff In Short Supply
Wisconsin hospitals are facing staffing shortages and a severe lack of beds in intensive care units as COVID-19 infections rise. Fewer than 3% of ICU beds were available statewide Thursday, with several multicounty regions reporting just one or two beds available. In five of Wisconsin's seven regions — as designated by the Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition — three or fewer ICU beds were available. The southeast and south-central regions, home to Milwaukee and Dane counties, were the only counties with more than a handful of open ICU beds, and even then, only about 3% to 4% are available. (Carson, 12/9)
In related news about health care personnel shortages —
Philadelphia Inquirer:
Pennsylvania Council On The Arts Funds Music Therapy For Hospital Staff
Thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA), some of the state’s hospitals will fight pandemic exhaustion among their frontline employees next year with a new weapon: music therapy. PCA encouraged health-care providers to apply for the creative arts funding, and the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) won with its proposal to try using the universal appeal of music to soothe frayed nerves and help burned-out, grieving workers cope with the pain of 20 months of relentless work and fear of COVID-19 infection. (Burling, 12/9)
The 19th News:
Home Care Workers Are Far More Likely To Have Poor Mental Health, New Study Shows
One in 5 home healthcare workers said they experienced poor mental health — about double what typical American workers experience — a new study published Wednesday found. The data, from a paper published in the American Journal of Public Health, looks at how home care workers evaluated their own health and well-being between 2014 and 2018. Researchers examined responses from almost 3,000 workers to a behavioral health study collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Luthra, 12/9)
