Hospital adjusts to keep staffing up as snow disrupts travel in city
Hours after staff members were transported through the rare Pine Bluff snow Tuesday, a Jefferson Regional Medical Center official feared Wednesday’s conditions would make the shift changes more challenging.
“When that snow starts coming again, things will get a little treacherous there and a little interesting,” Chief Operating Officer Peter Austin said. “That 7 p.m. shift [Wednesday], that’s definitely got us a little nervous. We’re making plans to house people here so they don’t have to leave the hospital. We’re getting cots set up and lodging and hotels. We own some apartments here close to the hospital. Those will probably be full with our people, just so we won’t have to travel all over to get people here.”
Approximately 25 to 30 personnel stayed at the hospital Tuesday night, hospital spokesperson Wendy Talbot said. She added that was about the same number of people who stayed over Monday, when 5-8 inches of snow fell in the city.
That amount approximately doubled Wednesday well before 7 p.m. Pine Bluff received a steady downpour of snow
flakes for several hours.
A 20% chance of snow followed by mostly cloudy skies with a high of 30 degrees and low of 13 are forecast for Pine Bluff today, according to the National Weather Service.
Austin and hospital Chief Executive Officer Brian Thomas used their personal vehicles, both equipped with all-wheel drive, to pick up “a handful” of staff members, Austin said. One of the workers Thomas picked up, Austin said, was a travel nurse from Malvern hired to fill a “critical” role.
“Our transport staff has done all that work,” Austin said. “Susie Powell heads up our transport teams. Really, we got in a situation where our van, which we typically use for transports, it was having trouble in these icy conditions. Really, I stepped up [Tuesday] morning when the van was not a good option for picking people up and we needed a fourwheel drive vehicle.”
Trotter Ford also loaned four-wheel drive trucks to the hospital.
Jefferson Regional’s physician offices, Infusion Center, Urgent Care, HealthWorks, outpatient physical therapy, Wound Care, Cardiac Rehab, outpatient imaging and wellness centers, as well as the School of Nursing were closed Wednesday. A vaccine clinic that was scheduled for Wednesday was postponed to Feb. 24.
The emergency room is still open for anyone who needs to be seen for emergencies, Talbot said. The number of covid-19 patients at the hospital was 15 as of Tuesday, which she said was a decline from the Christmas break.
Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said police officers had canvassed the community to help homeless people get out of the weather.
“At one point, they found one man, but they had been scouting the city forever trying to find him or find anybody,” Washington said. “We think everybody has found shelter because they’re not seeing anybody out. We have a standby shelter, but so far we have not needed them.”