Joel Philippsen | CRH Photo Columbus Regional Health Registered Nurse Aeran Pearson uses a computer to chart in the hallway after leaving a patient room on the 5 Tower floor at Columbus Regional Hospital Thursday afternoon, Dec. 16, 2021. Inpatient census at the hospital was approaching 200 patients on Thursday.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus Regional Health has said an “unrelenting surge” in hospitalizations and emergency room visits over the past few days and weeks has driven the overall hospital census to match its all-time high, placing in “jeopardy” the space and resources needed for patients with unavoidable medical emergencies and accidents.
CRH reported a total of 198 hospitalizations Wednesday — including 52 people with COVID-19 — which tied for the highest total census in the hospital’s 104-year history, officials said. CRH has set inpatient census records several times as of late. About 80% of COVID-19 patients at CRH — or 4 in 5 — are unvaccinated.
On Thursday, CRH officials said frontline health care workers “are reaching a breaking point” and fear that things will only get worse in the coming weeks.
CRH is pleading with 30,700 eligible-but-still-unvaccinated Bartholomew County residents to get their COVID-19 shots, and those who are eligible, to get their booster shot. Additionally, the hospital system is urging people to “have compassion and concern for your neighbor,” wear masks in public settings and gatherings, stay home if not feeling well except to seek medical care and get tested, adding, “We need your help.”
“The collective strain being placed on the healthcare systems and medical professionals in our area has immediate and distressing implications to medical services and hospital access to all the patients and communities we serve,” the CRH said in a statement Thursday.
“At this critical time, every bed counts,” the statement said.
For the complete story, see Friday’s Republic.
