Alabama hospital president down 70 nurses due to COVID urges people to get vaccinated: “Our staff are very exhausted”



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Decatur-Morgan Hospital is looking for nurses and volunteers to deal with the growing number of COVID-19 patients in Morgan County.

Decatur Morgan Hospital President Kelli Powers said the hospital currently has 70 nurses declining due to the virus, with staff putting in 60 hours a week to keep pace.

“We’re still looking for nurses, we’re down to about 70 nurses, so we’re looking for them,” Powers said. “Our nurses are working overtime, 60 hours a week for some of the staff and it’s not healthy for them to keep doing that.”

This means that hospital administrators are looking to fill these staffing gaps.

“We need nurses,” she says. “If you can give me four hours a day, if you can give me one day a week. We need volunteers. People taking calls to release our clinicians for clinical roles. “

The hospital is treating 57 inpatients with COVID on Monday, up from 44 on Friday. The average age of patients is 51 years. Only 9% of them have been vaccinated. In the intensive care unit, there are eight COVID patients, Powers said, including seven on ventilators. The average age there is 61 years. None of them are vaccinated.

Powers urges people in the area to get vaccinated.

“I guess I’m about to beg now,” she said. “Our staff are very exhausted and so are our doctors. “

According to hospital staff, the region has an average of around 100 people who test positive every day, with more than 40,000 residents fully vaccinated, representing about a third of the total population. The hospital offers the Pfizer vaccine daily, and the Moderna vaccine on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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