At an Overrun ICU, ‘the Problem Is We Are Running Out of Hallways’

September 22, 2021

(Kaiser Health News) – The ICU here has space for 28 patients but last Friday was operating at 160% capacity, Baxter said. To handle the overflow, nurses elsewhere provide care beyond their training as covid patients fill other parts of the hospital. In the lobby of the emergency department, rooms roughly 6 feet by 6 feet have been fashioned with makeshift plastic walls. Ten members of the Montana Army National Guard arrived last week to help however they can. Hospital staffers volunteer to sit with dying patients. Beds line hallways. “The problem is,” said Brad Von Bergen, the hospital’s ER manager, “we are running out of hallways.” (Read Full Article)