Hospitals Pushed To The Brink, Governors Warn Of Health Care Shortages
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2020
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
KCUR's Alex Smith reports on rural hospitals that are already at capacity, forcing them to transfer patients to city hospitals.
Lydia Mobley, a traveling nurse working in central Michigan, says she sees multiple patients every shift who say they regret not taking the coronavirus more seriously.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's not just about hospital beds. |
| 0:03.2 | You need staff to tend to those beds too. |
| 0:06.2 | You know, it's a mathematics of infection are very clear. |
| 0:10.3 | You have a community-wide outbreak right now. |
| 0:13.4 | Dr. Shankar Kura is the VP of Medical Affairs at Monument Health Rapid City Hospital. |
| 0:18.7 | That's in South Dakota. |
| 0:20.4 | And that state is one of many where hospital staffing is getting to be a real concern. |
| 0:25.2 | Kura told NPR this week his hospital has space for more beds, |
| 0:29.2 | but they may soon need more staff and the plan for that. |
| 0:33.2 | We can shut down our ambulatory services and then repurpose those staff |
| 0:38.0 | and even our non-critical areas such as OIRs that are not trauma staff there are a community |
| 0:45.6 | purpose to take care of our COVID surge. |
| 0:49.3 | Hospital resources that normally go to other things might be needed for COVID. |
| 0:54.4 | If you're not a believer in COVID. |
| 0:56.1 | It's the same story in North Dakota. |
| 0:58.3 | Hopefully that you'll understand that other things actually are real. |
| 1:02.5 | The state's Republican governor, Doug Burgham, said hospitals are weeks from being overwhelmed. |
| 1:08.0 | Heart disease is real, diabetes is real, cancer is real, stroke is real. |
| 1:12.6 | The Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine. |
| 1:15.4 | We will not be able to provide appropriate care for all the Ohioans who need it. |
| 1:19.9 | Had the same message this week. |
| 1:21.9 | All those Ohioans who require other emergency care. |
... |
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