ProMedica tightens visitation as COVID-19 patient numbers remain high

Don Reid, The Daily Reporter
·2 min read

COVID-19 hospitalization remains high at Promedica Coldwater Regional Hospital after a week's delay in state reporting.

On Nov. 22, PCRH reported 16 COVID-19 patients with that number increasing to 17 by Nov. 29, according to the state dashboard from the Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of intensive care patients dropped from six to five in that week. As of Monday, the Coldwater hospital reported capacity dropped from 100% to 90%.

The hospital has housed some COVID-19 patients in the emergency department for acute care.

Nurses working in the facility reported PCRH ran out of ventilators used for breathing for the most serious patients. Nurses “bagged” or used hand ventilators to continue for one patient for 10 hours. There had been no other hospitals available in the region with ICU beds.

Reports indicated more than 70% of those seriously ill had not been vaccinated. The DHHS dashboard showed Branch County remained at 43.6% fully vaccinated, one of the lowest vaccinated counties Michigan.

Elective surgeries have been canceled.

On Nov. 12, ProMedica moved to Level 2 enhanced visitor guidelines “in an effort to ensure the safety and well-being of our patients, visitors and staff.”

“This change is in response to our current increase in COVID positive admissions. These changes will help minimize the number of people in the hospital and keep the risk of infection low,” it said.

No visitors are allowed for COVID-19 patients, with only one masked visitor allowed for other patients. If there is a COVID-19 positive obstetrics patient, there may be one masked visitor.

For suspected COVID-19 patients entering the ER, there can be no one with them. For pediatric COVID-19 patients, one masked adult may accompany them.

The hospital requires those in the hospital to be masked.

Branch County reported 28 new cases per day average over the last seven days. That is a drop from 42 cases per day the prior week.

Quincy Community Schools reported a new outbreak last week, with four students and staff contracting the virus. That is the only Branch County school reporting a COVID-19 outbreak.

Increases in COVID-19 cases brought a return of visitor restrictions at ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital.
Increases in COVID-19 cases brought a return of visitor restrictions at ProMedica Coldwater Regional Hospital.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: ProMedica tightens visitation after COVID patient numbers remain high