Harbor hospitals deal with COVID spikes while preparing for vaccine roll-out

By Ryan Sparks • December 15, 2020 3:30 pm
UWMC Montlake campus Pharmacy Administration Resident Derek Pohlmeyer, left, and UWMC Pharmacy Director Michael Alwan transport a box containing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccines toward a waiting vehicle headed to the UW Medicines other hospital campuses on Monday morning. These are among the first to be distributed in Washington state. (Pool Photo)
UWMC Montlake campus Pharmacy Administration Resident Derek Pohlmeyer, left, and UWMC Pharmacy Director Michael Alwan transport a box containing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccines toward a waiting vehicle headed to the UW Medicines other hospital campuses on Monday morning. These are among the first to be distributed in Washington state. (Pool Photo)

COVID cases spiking in recent weeks has put a strain on local health care facilities as they prepare for the upcoming roll-out of a vaccine next week.

“It’s all hands on deck right now for the health care community,” said Grays Harbor Community Hospital spokesperson Christopher Majors. “We are all coming together trying to get this done as effectively and safely as we can for as many people as we can.”

Majors said that Community Hospital, which will be the main center of both COVID testing and vaccinations in the county, said there are beds available for COVID patients as the hospital has “turned a corner” after dealing with rising cases last week.

“We had, at one point in time, approximately seven COVID patients last week, where (Tuesday) we have two positives and three rule-outs, or people who have been admitted but we are still awaiting the results of their tests,” Majors said. “From where we were, we’ve definitely seen a decline in the number of patients that we have. In that regard, we could have taken five patients today without bringing in any extra staff.”

Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma has been experiencing a similar situation as it has seen an increase in COVID patients in recent weeks that has put a strain on their capacity to provide patients a bed.

“We have been struggling (with bed capacity). We only have 10 emergency department beds and 10 in-patient beds for people that need to be admitted,” said Nichole Pas, the center’s Director of Communications and Marketing. “Recently, we have been full and there have been times where we were really struggling with finding a bed for someone … we were able to get them taken care of, but there were challenging times for sure and I’m sure there still will be going forward.”

Currently, the facility has one COVID patient being cared for in the in-patient unit.

Pas added that COVID patients are arriving at the facility “every single day” and that, in part, has prompted the facility to implement additional measures to mitigate the spread of infection.

In a Monday press release, Summit Pacific announced it will be implementing additional changes to its patient intake procedures, including curbside check-ins and drive up COVID testing to go along with previously implemented measures, such as virtual urgent and primary care visits.

Testing

Drive-up testing at the center will be available 9 a.m. to 4 p.m Monday through Saturday at 575 East Main Street, Building 2 in Elma.

Patients using curbside check-in are asked to call 360-495-5790 upon arriving at the facility to speak with a registration specialist.

Pas said these procedures will help to keep the center safe from any potential outbreaks.

“We want to keep everyone safe. We don’t want anyone to delay any needed care that they should seek. We want people to take care of their primary care needs before they become catastrophic needs,” she said. “

“That’s why we implemented the virtual care, so if they are not comfortable coming in, they can still get a primary care visit with their doctor. … The curb-side check-in is really meant give people that safer option of waiting inside their own vehicle until their provider is ready to see them or the lab is ready to take them back so that we can reduce the amount of people in the waiting rooms.”

Both facilities are preparing for the roll-out of COVID vaccinations. Community Hospital believes it will receive doses as early as next week. Summit Pacific said in a news release that it expects vaccine in the next three to six weeks. Initially, the vaccine will go to medical personnel handling COVID cases, and to residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

“We’ve been having tons and tons of meetings and everyone is involved,” Majors said, adding that the Washington State Hospital Association has been key in facilitating information. “They have been working with all of the hospitals and the state to figure out how to get the virus out there. … We’ve been sharing best practices, what is being learned and what we need to know for this vaccine and the next one. … Most of the hospitals in Washington state are sharing what they’ve been learning with WSHA, and WSHA has been sharing that with everyone.”

COVID numbers

Grays Harbor County reported 67 cases Monday, which covered the weekend, and 60 cases Tuesday.

No new deaths were reported as the total COVID death count for the county remains at 17.

Pool Photo UWMC Montlake campus Pharmacy Administration Resident Derek Pohlmeyer, left, and UWMC Pharmacy Director Michael Alwan transport a box containing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccines toward a waiting vehicle headed to the UW Medicines other hospital campuses on Monday morning. These are among the first to be distributed in Washington state.

Pool Photo UWMC Montlake campus Pharmacy Administration Resident Derek Pohlmeyer, left, and UWMC Pharmacy Director Michael Alwan transport a box containing the Pfizer coronavirus vaccines toward a waiting vehicle headed to the UW Medicines other hospital campuses on Monday morning. These are among the first to be distributed in Washington state.

A tray of 975 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine goes into the deep freeze after the vaccine arrived at UW Medicine’s Montlake campus Monday morning.

A tray of 975 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine goes into the deep freeze after the vaccine arrived at UW Medicine’s Montlake campus Monday morning.