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Doctors who work at Providence Alaska Medical Center said on Tuesday they had started rationing care as Alaska suffers one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks.
“As we do our best, we are no longer able to provide quality care to every patient who needs our help,” said a two-page letter from the Medical Executive Committee of Providence, representing independent physicians who practice. to the hospital. “The acuity and number of patients is now beyond our resources and our ability to staff beds with qualified caregivers, such as nurses and respiratory therapists. ”
The letter is signed by Dr Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, Chief of Staff of the Medical Executive Committee. The hospital administration is distributing the letter on behalf of the committee, a hospital spokesperson said.
The letter says medical staff have had to “prioritize scarce resources and treatments to patients who have the potential to benefit the most.”
Doctors said they have put in place procedures to ration care “including dialysis and specialized ventilatory support”.
Hospitals have warned that the COVID-19 outbreak could reach this crisis point for weeks on end, as the number of patients hospitalized with the virus continues to rise, setting new records every day. Alaska reported seven more deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday.
“We are in crisis at the hospital”
Dozens of healthcare workers, including Solana Walkinshaw, also raised their concerns at the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday evening. They told assembly members that Providence is overloaded with patients suffering from COVID-19.
“We are in crisis at the hospital,” Solana Walkinshaw said. “When we have four patients and two machines, two patients don’t get that care. “
Unlike the start of the pandemic, the city has not put in place any mask mandate or capacity restrictions to try to limit the spread of the virus.
Mayor Dave Bronson reiterated his position after the assembly passed a resolution calling on him to require face masks in municipal buildings.
“Whether someone wants to wear a mask or get the shot is their personal choice,” Bronson wrote in a statement. “But we will not violate the privacy and independent health care decisions of our citizens in the process. The personal choice to wear a mask or to vaccinate is up to each person. “
RELATED: Former Anchorage epidemiologist says mayor’s inability to help increase hospitalizations for COVID “doesn’t quite make sense”
COVID-19 hospitalizations set to escalate
Staff at Providence are gradually moving towards “standards of crisis care,” said Dr. Ryan Webb, hospitalist and spokesperson for the medical group.
“Often times we have to decide who goes first from the emergency room to an intensive care unit bed. And so that’s a normal part of the triage process in a hospital or emergency room, ”he said in an interview. “Over the past week, I would say we’ve made more of these decisions, and those decisions have become more and more difficult to make.”
Providence staff decided to write the letter because they wanted to be transparent with the public, Webb said.
RELATED: Watching patients die from COVID-19 wreaks havoc on Alaskan hospital workers
Among those most affected are patients in hospitals outside Anchorage who would normally be transferred to Providence. Webb said emergency room wait times have also increased significantly.
“And so, someone who just has a bad UTI or a heart attack or a car crash here in Anchorage is also facing unexpected delays that we think are out of the norm and really out of the norm of care.” , did he declare.
Webb said it was a demoralizing time for the doctors, nurses and therapists at Providence.
“You go into this job to provide great care to anyone who needs it,” he said. “It’s both very shocking and really tragic to be where we are at this point where we can’t do it.”
Caregivers must now choose which patients receive care first “or maybe not at all,” he said. “And that’s not something we really want to do either.”
In the letter, Solana Walkinshaw wrote that the worst is not over.
“As we see the increased rate of cases in our community, we expect COVID-19-related hospitalizations to escalate in the next two to four weeks,” the letter said. “What is already a stressful situation could quickly turn into a disaster.”
Already, the letter said, Providence’s emergencies are overflowing.
“Patients wait in their cars for hours to see a doctor for emergency care,” he said. “On a day-to-day basis, our transfer center is unable to accept patients in emergency rooms and hospitals across the state, people who need care that their current facility does. is not able to provide. If you or your loved one needs specialist care in Providence, such as a cardiologist, trauma surgeon or neurosurgeon, unfortunately we have no space at this time. There are no more staffed beds.
Webb and state health officials say the public can help reduce the flare-up by getting vaccinated and wearing masks when in public indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
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State epidemiologist Dr Joe McLaughlin said Alaska is experiencing one of the strongest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the country.
“Alaska currently has more people hospitalized with COVID-19 compared to any other time during the pandemic,” he said. “And Alaska is just behind North Dakota for the percentage increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 over the past two weeks.”
Wesley Early of Alaska Public Media contributed to this report.
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