UW Health, Bellin Health running hospitals at 100% capacity most days
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Both UW Health and Bellin Health are running at 100% capacity most days. Both health care systems are urging the public to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“When someone leaves our hospital, either gets discharged to go home or goes to stay at a care facility or unfortunately passes away, that’s when we can take another patient,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, the Chief Quality Officer and Emergency Physician at UW Health.
Both health systems are seeing an uptick in COVID-19, mainly unvaccinated, and non-COVID-19 patients who need attention for other serious illnesses. Staff at both hospitals are spread thin.
“Pandemic took a toll on our staff. There’s a lot of health care workers that said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard.’ And we lost folks in health care,” said Dr. Pothof.
Laura Hieb, the Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President at Bellin Health said, “Our staff, throughout the pandemic, have been challenged. And I think pushed to the limit to continue to care for patients.”
The hospitals are not able to accept new patients from rural hospitals looking for specialized treatment. Dr. Pothof is concerned for a rise in COVID-19 care following Christmas and New Years’ celebrations, plus flu season.
“Now we have a super contagious variant, Omicron, out there likely to become the predominant strain in the next week,” said Pothof.
UW Health is limiting non-essential procedures and trying to make more room for COVID-19 patients. Bellin Health is trying the same, but will soon have more help on the way.
Bellin Health was the only health care system in Wisconsin selected by FEMA to receive help from 23 licensed and trained active duty military members from the Navy and Army. They were deployed to help Bellin for 30 days.
“Today is their first day of just getting acclimated, and then again, later this week they’ll be able to provide care side by side with our team,” said Hieb.
According to Hieb, Bellin Health was primarily selected for the ability to expand and the need for staff.
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