By STEELE HAUGEN
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
COVID-19 cases keep rising in Deschutes County and St. Charles hospital in Bend has limited beds.
“We are filling up and we are in the process of reducing surgeries in an effort to create capacity to take care of patients that are sick,” said St. Charles Chief Physician Executive, Dr. Jeff Absalon.
There are 29 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19.
It’s the highest number they’ve had so far, roughly twice as many as the previous week.
“We’ve seen the numbers in our area increase significantly in the last several weeks,” Absalon said. “It takes a few weeks after we see the community numbers go up for us to see the numbers go up in the hospital and that is exactly what has happened here.”
Deschutes County last week reported 459 new COVID cases – nearly 200 more than the week before.
Lisa Goodman, a spokeswoman for St. Charles said 20 of the hospital’s 30 ICU beds were full.
And across the region’s four hospital campuses, 82% of the beds were occupied as of Monday.
Hundreds of elective surgeries are being delayed, that’s 25 to 40% of all surgeries performed at the hospital.
“Elective surgeries include things such as heart surgery, including such things as cancer surgery. So there are a lot of very important surgeries included in that bucket,” Absalon said.
He adds, everyone is feeling the pressure and stress on the health system at this time.
“We just don’t know if this is the peak or not,” he said. “What we do know is, the measures that have been used previously are effective. If people wear a mask, if they keep their physical distance, if they stay home when they are ill if they wash their hands. We know we can bend the curve and that is exactly what needs to happen.”
Absalon also added, there is a risk the hospital reaches capacity, given the variety of other patients typically admitted this time of year.
