LEWISBURG – Physically and mentally demanding times continue at a very busy Evangelical Community Hospital, but there’s a flicker of hope.
On WKOK’s On The Mark Thursday, President and CEO Kendra Aucker says the hospital is planning for a COVID-19 vaccine distribution next week, “We’ve followed all the proper process and everything to secure that, and we’re getting ready internally to announce our plans as how we’re going to unroll it out to front-line staff. You have so many days in which to get that vaccine rolled out before you can get your next rounds of it.”
The hospital is also hopeful to have a plan for public vaccine distribution at some point.
But challenging times continue and as of Thursday, Aucker says the hospital has 45 COVID patients admitted out of 47 available beds and that’s not slowing down, “We are looking at another wave of, if we see an increase, having to add a few more beds, but eventually from a staffing perspective, you reach a limit on the amount of beds you can have.”
In addition, Aucker says there are 35 Evangelical employees who have the virus, mostly due to the recent increase. There also continues to be strains of the hospital’s ICU, “Our ICU is full. We had to open another ICU for non-COVID patients. So that really stresses the staff and its all hands on deck.”
The hospital is testing 300-350 people daily, and Aucker says an increase of patients experiencing mental health crises has increased in the last six to eight months. The other piece of good news, Evangelical’s PPE supply remains in good shape, and the newly opened PRIME wing has helped handle the high volume of patients.
