Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Local Hospitals Prepare To Ration Care As COVID Cases Surge
Tents set up outside UC Irvine Medical Center's emergency room. (Chava Sanchez/LAist)
()
As coronavirus cases surge in Southern California, local hospitals are bracing for an overwhelming number of patients and the possibility of rationing care.
The 11 counties that make up the state-designated Southern California region have been maxed out for days on ICU capacity, with a bed availability of 0% for COVID patients.
Now, some hospitals are having to expand beds into nontraditional spaces.
One is Riverside Community Hospital, where some patients are being moved into the cafeteria. The facility is in the process of setting up a tent outside the emergency department to treat people arriving in ambulances. Even the National Guard came to provide assistance to the overwhelmed staff
Support for LAist comes from
Annette Greenwood, Chief Nursing Officer of the hospital, said it's all taking an emotional toll on the healthcare teams.
"I've not seen anything that's like it in my lifetime," Greenwood said. "At the end of the shift there's a lot of tears being shed because of exhaustion, but also because of the emotional toll of being the last person to help someone into eternity."
As soon as next week, she said, staff may soon have to make difficult decisions about prioritizing certain patients for care -- such as determining who gets a ventilator.
Greenwood cited predictions that COVID-19 cases could double in the next week, after infections spread at Christmas gatherings take hold. That would send new people looking for treatment into an already overloaded facility.
"That would be when everybody would be at the tipping point," Greenwood said.
With the help of a task force, including bioethicists, physicians and nursing experts, the hospital is drafting crisis plans for those situations. They plan to consider the likelihood of survival between patients, but specific instructions haven't been finalized.
Greenwood says her hospital is borrowing from similar protocols recently released by Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.
Support for LAist comes from
Dr. Kimberly Shriner, an infectious disease specialist at Huntington, spoke on KPCC's public affairs show AirTalk on Wednesday about its plan for a designated team to determine care.
"It's a committee that's formed by a bioethicist, a clinician, a nurse, a community member, and sometimes an administrator or a fourth person," Shriner told KPCC. "It's not anybody who's actually taking care of any of the patients."
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California is also making plans for rationing care. From an emailed statement to LAist:
"We are taking necessary actions to ensure that we have the capacity and staffing needed, such as postponing elective surgeries and procedures.
We are staying closely aligned with state and local public health officials and other health care systems, as we trend closer to activating crisis standards. If the number of new infections doesn't slow, it's only a matter of time. We hope not to get to the place where we have to start making extraordinarily difficult decisions that most of us have never had to face before."
Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the L.A. County Department of Health Services, said all acute care facilities statewide must publish their crisis protocols by next week, at the direction of the state health department.
At this point, L.A. Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says no hospitals in the county are dealing with crisis care situations. But if rationing conditions do begin, hospitals must alert the state and county.
Support for LAist comes from
This post has been updated.
READ MORE:
- Los Angeles Hospitals Plan to Ration COVID-19 Care Amid Surge
- LA County Breaks Coronavirus Hospitalization Record Again, Several Hospitals Go Into Internal Disaster Mode
- Still Not Convinced There's A COVID-19 Crisis? LA Doctors Are Told To Have End Of Life Talk With Fragile Patients
- 'The Flood Just Continues': Inside L.A. Hospitals' Struggle With the COVID-19 Surge
Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars. -
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
Best of LAist