FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington Regional Medical System announced Thursday the hospital is moving to phase four of its covid-19 surge plan as the number of hospitalized covid-19 patients in Northwest Arkansas reached an all-time high this week.
Phase four changes allow the hospital to open and staff a third covid unit by reassigning employees to the areas of greatest need, Wright said. Some non-emergency and elective surgeries have been postponed, and some clinic operations have been paused to obtain the necessary staff for phase four, according to a statement released Thursday from Birch Wright, Washington Regional's chief operating officer and administrator.
"It is crucial that the Northwest Arkansas community understand this current surge is the most serious situation we have encountered since the beginning of the pandemic," Wright said. "The concern that local health care systems could be overwhelmed has become reality."
Washington Regional moved to phase two of its covid-19 surge plan on July 21. Phase two allowed the hospital to expand its capacity to care for the increasing number of covid and non-covid patients. Visitor access was reduced and the hospital gift shop, coffee shop and cafeteria were closed to visitors.
The plan has four phases designed to flex to the needs of the community, and each phase allows for increased patient demand, Wright said at the time.
Northwest Arkansas hospitals reached an all-time high of 165 covid patients Monday and a record number of 127 covid patients were in intensive care units on Wednesday, according to Martine Pollard, a spokeswoman for Mercy Hospital who released a joint statement with the region's largest health care providers.
By Thursday, the number of hospitalized covid patients had fallen to 138 and 119 ICU beds were in use, she said.
Statewide, 1,251 patients were hospitalized with covid-19 on Thursday, 464 were in ICU and 266 were on ventilators, according to Danyelle McNeill, public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Health.
Northwest Arkansas is also seeing more critically ill non-covid patients than at any other time in the pandemic, according to Wright.
"These volumes are having an unprecedented impact on health systems in our region, including Washington Regional, largely due to the need for hospital nursing staff and available beds to be directed to the care of covid inpatients," Wright said.
In response to the surge, Mercy locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri will reduce the number of visitors for hospitalized patients from two to one per day, with some exceptions, according to spokeswoman Mardi Taylor. Mercy Northwest Arkansas has closed its cafeteria, gift shop and coffee shop to visitors, she said.
More News
On Thursday, Northwest Arkansas hospitals reported:
• The youngest patient hospitalized with covid-19 was just over 12.
• The average age of hospitalized covid-19 patients was 47.
• 96% of hospitalized covid-19 patients are not vaccinated.
• 99% of hospitalized covid-19 patients are eligible to get the vaccine.
Source: Martine Pollard, a spokeswoman for Mercy Health who released a joint statement with the region’s largest health care providers.