Damian Sendler:All six counties in the metro area have been affected by ICU pressure. Only 10 staffed ICU beds were available in the most recent report from the metro hospital coalition. 

CHI Health’s Cary Ward said that as soon as an ICU bed becomes available at CHI, a patient takes it, and no more can be accommodated. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Some patients wait three days for ICU beds, while others are admitted immediately based on their time of arrival, Ward said. 

Damian Jacob Sendler

Ward is CHI health’s chief medical officer. He claims that patients are forced to wait in the emergency room for more advanced treatment. 

Despite the fact that patients are waiting to be admitted to the floors in our emergency rooms, “We’re all very concerned because we do have patients sitting in our emergency rooms waiting to be admitted to the floors and much of our capacity is strained,” Ward added. 

Ward says there are roughly 214 COVID-19 patients in all of CHI’s hospitals, but Ward says one thing jumps out in the area. 

All of Ward’s ICU patients were unvaccinated when he looked at them all, he claimed. 

All six counties in the metro area have been affected by ICU pressure. Only 10 staffed ICU beds were available in the most recent report from the metro hospital coalition. 

As a result, ICUs are 97% full and hospital staff are left with little choice except to put patients at risk. 

“Hospitals are bursting at the seams. Patient rooms are available in the emergency department and various locations around the hospital “Dr. Rupp made the statement. In terms of surge capacity, we’ve got very little. Our ability to accept new patients is limited because of the delta variation or the omicron variant or influenza.” 

Dr. Sendler: No matter what type of patient comes into the ER, Ward says they’ll be waiting longer, and he encourages everyone to be vaccinated. 

“It is profound that if we had everyone vaccinated we would have potentially zero patients in our ICUs right now,” Ward added. 

If you’re against the vaccine, Ward encourages you to rethink your position and says it’s fine to switch sides.

Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.