From Mona’s desk Is there a doctor, er...an open bed in the house, er...state?
Once I became responsible for acquiring and paying for my own health insurance, I figured I’d always worry about the cost of health care. I mean, like the commercial says, “It’s what you do.”
But I never dreamed that I’d have to worry about the availability of health care. Not in the United States. Not in Nebraska.
My husband unexpectedly landed in the hospital earlier in the month. Through twists and turns of circumstance, we were at Lexington Regional because the surgeon for the out-patient procedure was there that afternoon. After the procedure, my husband didn’t quite bounce back and he was admitted for a night of observation.
It never occurred to me to question whether or not a bed would be available.
He received excellent and attentive care. Still, I thought if it was going to be an extended hospitalization, I wanted to see about transferring to Broken Bow. It was only then that I realized how much could ride on whether or not a bed was available.
We were fortunate. My husband was released after only one night. We’re following up with health care providers and have been able to schedule what is needed.
Yet the specter of “available hospital beds” haunts me.
It’s not the number of beds that count now. It’s the number of staffed beds. In other words, if there aren’t doctors, nurses, aides and all the other people who care for the people in the beds, the beds aren’t available. Period.
COVID is still knocking us around but as of Monday, hospital beds aren’t overflowing with COVID patients. For each COVID patient in a hospital bed, there are four non-COVID patients being treated for things like heart attacks, strokes, accidents, surgery recovery and more.
As of Monday, Jan. 17, the Nebraska Hospital Capacity & Respiratory Illness Dashboard showed 3,224 staffed adult beds in Nebraska with 27 percent available. Only 14 percent (461) are COVID beds. 59 percent (1,889) are holding non-COVID patients. ICU numbers are a higher for COVID with 33 percent (161) of 491 ICU beds holding COVID patients, 49 percent (243) with non-COVID and 18 percent (491) available. (https://dhhs.ne.gov)
I don’t have statistics on the number of health care workers who are out sick, who are fatigued or who are leaving their jobs. I hear there are a lot.
An extended family member works in a hospital in Omaha. A co-worker of hers posted to Facebook a description of the current situation as something like the following: “You may not get the care you think you deserve. You will get the care that is available.” That’s pretty grim.
How can we help?
Let’s take care of ourselves.
Let’s take precautions to protect from COVID.
If we are sick or hurt, let’s seek help before the condition worsens and the only bed is one pretty far away.
And let’s be thankful for those who take care of us and try to be patient while they are doing it. It’s a tough, tough situation when you’re unable to do your best because of factors out of your control.
It’s said the peak of this latest wave of COVID is still to come for Nebraska. It’s also said there appears to be signs of the Omicron wave decreasing in some areas in the US. I’d cross my fingers that we’ll soon hear that about Nebraska but then I couldn’t type.