It’s not over. It’s just different.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has been on a slow and steady rise in Michigan since August. The number still hasn’t reached the levels seen during previous surges of the virus. But for Spectrum Health in West Michigan, hospitals are once again reaching capacity, and staff are being stretched to their limits.
A senior Spectrum executive says the overall number of admitted patients is at “persistent record highs” across the hospital system.
“There’s probably not a day that goes by that some, if not even sometimes a majority, of our units are in a red staffing level, meaning that we’re short-staffed,” says Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan.
“They have rashes of 30 year old and 40 year old patients that are on the ventilator and actually dying. We’ve had multiple deaths in that age range just in the last few weeks.”
Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Spectrum Health West Michigan
Elmouchi says Spectrum has expanded from three ICU teams to 10 ICU teams in Grand Rapids to help handle the swell of patients. And after more than a year of battling the virus, already overwhelmed frontline healthcare workers are confronted with daily heartbreak.
“They’re dealing with situations they’ve never dealt with before,” Elmouchi says. “They have rashes of 30-year-old and 40-year-old patients that are on the ventilator and actually dying. We’ve had multiple deaths in that age range just in the last few weeks.”
Eighty-five percent of patients admitted for COVID-19 are not vaccinated, Elmouchi says. Those who are vaccinated are older, on average, and are more likely to have other health issues.
Elmouchi says healthcare workers are also facing demands from patients to offer unproven, or even harmful treatments, even as the patients’ own health declines.
“That’s a situation that we just never saw in healthcare on a wide scale before,” Elmouchi says. He notes that the positivity rate for COVID tests in West Michigan is also on the rise, suggesting the current steady rise of patients won’t let up anytime soon.
“Because we’re busy, there are going to be more waits,” Elmouchi says. “And please please please, don’t get angry with health care providers.”
He says as Spectrum’s hospitals have filled up, more nurses have faced aggression from patients - screaming, punching, kicking. It was always a part of the job for frontline healthcare workers, but it’s gotten much worse recently - a big change from the early days of the pandemic when people cheered at the end of nursing shifts and sent food to the hospital.
For the workers still caring for the people infected with the virus, it is definitely not over. It’s just different.