Tulsa, Okla. As COVID cases continue to rise in Oklahoma due to the Omicron version, hospitals are concerned about capacity.
The chief of staff at OSU Medical Center told 2 News that he is feeling stressed about the same, if not worse, than previous COVID surges.
“It may feel like everything is back to normal and this is our new normal, but it doesn’t feel normal at OSU Medical Center,” said Dr. Chuck Thurman, chief of staff at OSU Medical Center.
OSU Medical Center is reporting that they are operating at full capacity with 30 COVID patients. This is causing trouble in the emergency room.
“We are on ER hold. That means people who are waiting in a room and can’t get one and it can go from shift to shift waiting for several hours,” Dr. Thurman said. “It’s not specific to our hospital. Usually we have really good put-throughs. ,
The difference in this surge compared to the previous one is that more staff members are leaving their jobs.
“Our regular employees may have to go anywhere from 55 to 60 extra shifts,” Dr Thurman said.
Apart from shortage of staff, the hospital does not have enough testing supplies with only 2 to 3 days’ supply.
“We don’t have enough tests to test universally like we would have done before,” he said. “We have to save it for testing only those on whom physicians order tests.”
While many are tired of hearing about the pandemic, Dr Thurman says it is not over yet.
“All we have to do is refocus our efforts and support our health care for the betterment of all of us,” said Dr. Thurman.
They say you can support healthcare workers by following preventive measures, including getting the vaccine and booster shots.
The news was checked from other Tulsa hospitals.
Hillcrest says they’ve seen an increase in the number of COVID hospitalizations, but they don’t. They say their capacity issues are a mix of COVID and other conditions.
St. Francis tells 2 News that little has changed since their update last week when they were starting to use the hallway for patients. Ascension St. John was unable to comment.
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