Photo provided Columbus Regional Health has converted a main hallway on the hospital’s first floor into a spill-over triage area.
Columbus Regional Hospital has converted a first floor main hallway into a spill-over triage area and is delaying some non-emergency surgeries to free up beds and reallocate staff as resources remain strained and COVID-19 cases soar to never-before-seen heights.
Hospital officials said Friday that the spill-over triage area, located between the cafeteria and the emergency department on the south side of the hospital, would be used to evaluate and treat less severe patients who turn up in the emergency room, which has been overwhelmed with a record-high number of patients.
The hallway was chosen because it is wide enough that staff could create space for patients and put in screens for privacy, hospital officials said. The spill-over triage area is separate from a overflow ICU that has been set up in the hospital’s outpatient cath lab.
So far, the hospital has not needed to use the new triage space, but officials said it may only be a matter of time, as they “are not seeing any let up in this influx of patients.”
“We do anticipate that these next two to three weeks are going to be really rough,” said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
The new measures at CRH come as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to spread furiously around the state and country.
Local health officials believe that the abrupt increase in cases is likely being driven by the new hyper-contagious variant, adding that the road ahead for the next couple months is “probably going to be rough.”
By mid-week, CRH’s 10-county service area had seen a record number of daily coronavirus cases on two occasions. And the hospital system’s drive-thru testing site saw more than double the all-time record for weekly positive cases this week, ballooning to nearly 180, compared to the 2021 record of around 80.
A record 1,074 people in the service area — including a record-breaking 170 in Bartholomew County — tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, according to the Indiana Department of Health. That broke the previous record of 792 daily cases, which was set the day before.
On top of that, CRH has seen an “alarming jump” in the number of healthcare workers who are out sick with COVID-19 or taking care of family members who have tested positive, the hospital said.
“Those numbers have spiked just as much as some of the positivity rates we’ve been seeing,” DeClue said. “It’s just an alarming, alarming jump. …It’s definitely putting a strain on the inpatient units.”
CRH also has started to see more breakthrough COVID-19 infections — meaning vaccinated people getting infected — though the vast majority of those cases are much less severe that what health officials are seeing with the unvaccinated population, DeClue said.
However, CRH has not seen an increase in breakthrough infections among those who have gotten a booster shot.
Local health officials expect almost all Bartholomew County residents to be exposed to COVID-19 at some point and are urging to the public to get vaccinated, get their booster shots, wear masks when going out, avoid large crowds and stay home and get tested if not feeling well — even if just experiencing mild symptoms.
“Have compassion for each other and make your safety and the safety of others around you a priority,” DeClue said. “…We’re asking the public not to gamble with symptoms.”
