Wichita hospital region has lowest ICU availability in Kansas as county adds 21 deaths
The Wichita area has the lowest percentage of available intensive care unit beds of any region in Kansas, according to a new coronavirus hospitalization report from the state’s health department and hospital association.
Just 25 of the 278 adult staffed ICU beds in the south-central Kansas hospital region were available as of Monday, or about 9%. Statewide, about 17% of adult staffed ICU beds were available, the Kansas Hospital Association and Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported on Tuesday.
“The issues are real,” said Jon Rolph, a Wichita businessman who hosted a regional hospital report on Tuesday via teleconference. “We’re on the edge, and if the numbers spike and we do get a Thanksgiving or holiday or flu bounce, it could really start getting even more serious.”
The report showed the south-central region hospitals had 313 confirmed COVID-19 patients. There were 361 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients hospitalized, with 105 of those in the ICU. There were 42 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
While the statistics are for the weekly reporting period that ended Monday, Rolph said hospital numbers are constantly moving and the reports are snapshots in time.
“When it comes to the hospitals, if there’s issues, it usually revolves around one of three things: stuff, staff or space,” he said. “Stuff was the issue in April, which was around PPE (personal protective equipment). Right now it’s around staff.”
The south-central region had the second-highest percentage of hospitals anticipating staffing shortages this week, at 53%. The Kansas City metro region was the highest at 57%. The statewide figure was 40%.
Dee Dee Dewell from Ascension Via Christi said staffing issues can be more challenging for smaller, rural hospitals that have fewer employees. The high demand for contract staff has exacerbated the problem.
“Those staffing shortages directly impact how many patients that you’re going to be able to care for at any given point in time,” Dewell said.
Dr. Stacy Dashiell, a family physician in Rice County, said that when she goes on social media, she sees inaccurate public perceptions on the pandemic.
“It is asking things of our rural healthcare systems that are so far outside of normal for us,” Dashiell said. “... We are definitely feeling the staffing shortages that were noted. We have three laboratory technicians, so when one tests positive and the other two have been exposed, that is literally incapacitating for us.”
She said her rural hospital has no ICU beds and depends on larger facilities for transfers. Finding beds has been difficult.
The ICUs have been full at Wichita’s Wesley Healthcare and Ascension Via Christi hospitals since the start of November, according to the Sedgwick County Health Department. Combined, the hospitals were treating 240 COVID-19 patients with 76 of those in ICUs as of Monday. They have approximately 208 ICU beds total for all patients.
On Tuesday, the county health department reported 21 new deaths from the coronavirus disease. The county’s total for the pandemic is now 220. Local hospitalizations, new cases and the positive test rate have seen modest improvement.
Dewell said the number of new COVID-19 cases in the south-central Kansas region was a small decrease from the previous week.
“Since the end of November, we have actually kind of seen a slight plateau in that number of cases,” she said. “So this could possibly indicate that increase in awareness from the statewide efforts that have been taken by many groups to take measures to slow the spread.”
Seth Konkel, who has worked in public health emergency management in Sedgwick County, said it is important to reduce the high positive test rate.
That statistic is used for several purposes, including reopening schools and mandated testing of nursing home workers. The state and local numbers remain in the red zone of both the KDHE and the White House coronavirus task force.
“This is not going to be stopped by one person, one entity,” Konkel said. “This is really going to be us as a community, and we can’t do it without everybody in the region and within the state.”
“We’re going to continue to see a higher level as long as people are not following the recommended guidelines. Those are science-based. Wear a mask, social distance.”
The new hospital reports were the product of a bipartisan effort from Gov. Laura Kelly, Senate President Ty Masterson and Speaker of the House Ron Ryckman, according to the governor’s office. The weekly reports are intended to “regularly communicate critical data to better inform regional and state leaders as they navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Kansas Hospital Association reports on the state’s seven hospital regions will be released every Tuesday through the KDHE’s website. Local health leaders will present the information and inform state leadership about immediate needs in their communities.