Overburdening medical facilities in Idaho, which is at stake in distribution care

Within the Primary Health Medical Group’s clinic, physician assistant Nicole Thomas assists with an additional 12-hour shift. She wears goggles, an N95 mask, a surgical mask, gloves, and a body cover to inspect 36 symptomatic patients daily. One day, she says, half of them test positive for COVID-19.

“Some patients are crying in the car because they think they will die,” Thomas said last week, leaning against the desk between the patients. “Some people say it’s a mild cold, while others are life-sustaining in the ICU. Medically, I don’t know how it affects them.”

The COVID-19 Clinic, which used to be an emergency treatment facility for cuts and colds with a family doctor, shows how the influx of virus patients is burdening the intertwined medical system. I have. In a conservative state where many are resisting pandemic restrictions, overworked staff may become ill or quit to avoid stress.

Health officials say Idaho’s attempts to control the coronavirus have failed. To date, more than 1,000 people have died from COVID-19, about four to five times the annual death toll from influenza and pneumonia. Over 100,000 confirmed infections.

Elective surgery was mostly discontinued to save bed space and staff. The COVID-19 patient returned home with a monitoring device to take care of him. After Thanksgiving rallies, authorities fear a surge in infections and can be forced to make difficult choices about what to do if there is no room or availability to treat the patient.

“I don’t know when we’ll reach absolute capacity, but we’re nervous,” said Burton Hill, vice president of the St. Luke’s Health System, which has hospitals in southwestern and central Idaho. ..

“I never dreamed we would be challenged this way,” said Steve Judy, chief operating officer of the Primary Health Medical Group, when he visited the clinic where Thomas works.

He appeared confused and was interrupted there by a young woman due to the COVID-19 test wandering from the test area. She had blood drawn and didn’t know where she was, she said through a mask, her eyes glazed. Judy gently passed the line of workers who answered the phone and returned to the test site after determining that a medical examination had not been performed.

The clinic was crowded with workers and helped Thomas and two other doctor assistants to see the patient. In addition, they order a chest x-ray and blood test to make a diagnosis and see about 110 people a day. The other 70 asymptomatic individuals undergo a drive-through COVID-19 test in the parking lot daily.

Twenty primary health clinics in southwestern Idaho typically have emergency care on one side and a family doctor on the other. Eight have been transformed into facilities that only see COVID-19 patients.

It takes at least two days for a sick person to make an appointment for a test. Primary Health plans to convert three more facilities to COVID-19 Clinics by December 30th, with more if necessary.

“I’m not in the hospital,” said Dr. David Peterman, a pediatrician and CEO of the Primary Health Medical Group. “But I’m telling you, we’re the biggest in primary health. We’re very close to ration care here. Probably 10 to 15 days.”

About 20% of his staff go out because they have quarantined the virus or tested it positive for the virus. Judy said he was trying to fill the 50 openings after workers were no longer stressed and unable to quit. He increased his front office salary by $ 2.50 to $ 14 per hour.

The number of calls to the clinic has increased from 30,000 in the month before the pandemic to 80,000 now. Six workers are calling the Boise Clinic. When you’re not on the phone, package your test kit.

“They are working hard. Almost all of them work overtime,” said Judy, who is worried about the staff.

Officials said the St. Luke hospital system is increasing the number of workers going to work for COVID-19. In addition to canceling elective surgery, the hospital sought to save bed space by sending 160 patients (140 in COVID-19) home with a device to measure oxygen in the blood.

Hospitals are currently planning what to do if there are not enough workers or beds available throughout the region. Healthcare professionals need to choose who will be treated and who will not.

“That’s really when we’re at risk of what’s called a” crisis standard. ” We are very worried in the next two weeks, “Hill said.

The Idaho Crisis Plan categorizes the sick, prioritizing those who are expected to survive a life-threatening illness or injury, and provides only comfortable care to those who do not.

In rural areas, many COVID-19 infections have generally been avoided for several months, but are now widespread. Recently, a surge in infections in southern Idaho filled hospital beds and some patients were transferred to the Boise area.

When people began to get sick in March, Republican Governor Brad Little issued a curfew that lasted for over a month to stop the virus from spreading. However, the unemployment rate surged from less than 3% to nearly 12%.

The restrictions were gradually lifted, but as infections and deaths surged again, Little last month reinstated several rules, including limiting rallies to 10 or less. He also activated 100 National Guards, freed health care workers, and was trained in mobile testing support, facility decontamination, and COVID-19 screening.

Nickolas Orr was one of two soldiers meeting a patient in a car outside the primary health clinic.

“Some people seem a little nervous,” he said, telling him where to go, depending on whether he was ill and had a promise, or if he felt good but needed a test.

Little was one of the first governors to wear masks publicly last spring, but refused to issue a state-wide power of attorney, stating that more people would wear masks if chosen. It was.

There is a lot of resistance. About 64% of Idaho voters denied wearing masks during the campaign and supported President-elect Donald Trump, who ridiculed President-elect Joe Biden.

Some sheriffs say they do not enforce mask requirements. Congressman compared Hitler and Little to issue a pandemic limit. The Republican-controlled state legislature is planning a law next month that will limit the governor’s ability to declare emergencies.

And in Boise, which is on the mission of Mask, protesters recently went to uncovered shops and restaurants to complain that their rights were being violated.

Meanwhile, within the primary health clinic, a doctor’s assistant, Thomas, wore sterile protective equipment when workers disinfected the office before the next patient.

The clinic no longer has time to call anyone who tests positive for COVID-19. Most receive text. Only people in the group with the highest risk of dying will receive the call in their voice.

“Not infecting others is like the name of the game for now,” Thomas said. But she has little hope. “I think we will be more and more busy.”