‘In my 32 years as a healthcare administrator, I’ve never witnessed anything like this’

COVID-19 did not take a holiday over the holidays and four area hospitals are bearing its brunt.

On Monday, AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet had 115 COVID-19-positive inpatients and AMITA Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook had 30, according to Timothy Nelson, AMITA Health’s system director for communications and media relations. Those numbers were 40 and 22, respectively, on Dec. 16, according to a Dec. 19 Herald News story.

Nelson said in a text message on Monday that AMITA Health as a whole “is experiencing a concerning surge in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection” and that many of the patients are either unvaccinated or unboosted. The AMITA system was treating 723 COVID-19 inpatients on Monday.

”That’s a pandemic high for us, as we’d previously peaked at 654 on May 5, 2020,” Nelson said.

Silver Cross Hospital had 128 inpatients on Monday with 18 in the intensive care unit and 10 on ventilators. On Dec. 16, the hospital had 89 inpatients.

Edward Hospital in Naperville had 113 COVID-10 inpatients Monday, according to Keith Hartenberger, system director of public relations at Edward-Elmhurst Health. On Dec. 16, Edward Hospital had 53.

On Dec. 31, shortly after Gov. JB Pritzker asked Illinois hospital leaders to postpone all nonemergency surgeries, Morris Hospital announced it was postponing all elective surgeries and interventional radiology procedures through Wednesday so staff could care for inpatients.

In that same release Mark Steadham, president and CEO of Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers, said Morris Hospital was at 150% of its ICU capacity on Dec. 29 and that seven COVID patients were on ventilators, “the highest since of the start of the pandemic.”

“The last thing we ever want to do is postpone care for patients,” Steadham said in the release. “The news stories you read or see about hospitals being in crisis is true. In my 32 years as a healthcare administrator, I’ve never witnessed anything like this.”

Twice that same week, more than 50% of the COVID tests that Morris Hospital administered were positive, again, the highest positivity rates Morris Hospital has seen to that point.

At the same time, Morris Hospital is experiencing a severe staffing shortage, especially among registered nurses and certified nurse assistants – and now that’s coupled with employee illness, the release said.

In fact, Silver Cross, Edward Hospital and St. Joe’s also are experiencing nursing shortages.

Steadham said in the release that staff tells him they are “hanging in there” when he rounds the hospital.

“Some have asked me to pray for them,” Steadham said in the release.

On most days over the past month, Morris Hospital has cared for more than 70 patients. On Monday, Morris Hospital had 78 inpatients. Forty-eight of them were COVID-19 patients. Thirteen were in the ICU. Nine were on ventilators.

“We’re an 89-bed hospital, and 8 of those beds are devoted to our Family Birthing Suites,” Steadham said in the release. “So anytime we’re above 70 inpatients, it can be challenging to identify an appropriate bed for each patient who needs to be admitted depending on the level of care needed.”

The positivity rate for the South Suburban (Will and Kankakee counties) region has increased to 20.7% and just 4% of ICU beds are available.

The positivity rate for the North-Central region, which includes Grundy County, has increased to 19.1%.

Steadham pleaded in the release for those who are eligible for vaccines and boosters to receive them and said doctors are “frustrated” with the low vaccination status in the community.

In Will County, schedule an appointment at willcountyhealth.org/vaccine-locations.

In Grundy County, schedule an appointment at grundyco.org/health.