The pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to ease off of Monadnock Community Hospital, according to hospital administration.
Hospital President and CEO Cyndee McGuire said the Omicron variant has had a huge impact on the hospital, and just weeks ago, it was struggling.
“I think two weeks ago, you probably saw one of the worst periods,” McGuire said. At that point, the hospital sent out a bulletin to surrounding communities telling residents that the hospital was experiencing massive staffing shortages and high caseloads. Since then, McGuire said the issue has eased somewhat.
“It definitely is starting to improve,” she said. “We’re seeing better numbers every day right now, although it kind of peaks up and down.”
Statewide, she added, numbers such as hospitalizations have come down from about 570 a couple of weeks ago to 343 on Tuesday.
“That’s a significant improvement over the last couple weeks,” McGuire said.
While the trend is currently good, MCH is still having trouble in some areas, and Chief Medical Officer Dan Perli said they were not making predictions on how the next few weeks will go.
“We’re still on the downslope, but it’s to be determined,” he said. “Sometimes people see a little bit of improvement and then you have people getting around and not wearing their masks, and then you get increased transmission.”
And while volumes are lower at MCH, they still have an average of 20 to 30% of inpatients testing positive for COVID-19. While this is down from 50% a few weeks ago, it’s still by no means ideal, according to McGuire.
“We’re not devoid of COVID, for sure,” she said.
Additionally, Perli pointed out that while cases trend down, death rates often lag behind.
“Sometimes you have more deaths before they also start to come down,” he said. “We’re kind of in that transition phase, if you will.”
While MCH works through this phase, McGuire said hospitals statewide are holding regular calls to compare needs and help each other out.
“We still have daily calls, sometimes two times a day,” she said. “That’s the kind of level we’ve been at for the last three months, almost every day, including weekends.”
Some ways to cope with the pressure have included sending patients to other hospitals depending on bed capacity, she said. Bed capacity has also led hospitals to house COVID-19 patients in the Emergency Department, which is not an ideal scenario. As of Wednesday morning, MCH had not been forced to do so for a 24-hour stretch.
Other contingency plans included the stationing of National Guard troops at the hospital. Even with the downslope, troops are scheduled to remain stationed at the hospital for the next six weeks.
By far the largest issue MCH is facing, McGuire said, is staffing shortages. This, too, has somewhat improved, as earlier in the month the hospital was dealing with 34 or 35 staff members out with COVID-19 or on quarantine at a time. On Wednesday, that number was down to nine, but the issue of shortage is by no means solved.
McGuire said that prior to the pandemic, the hospital typically had about 20 to 25 open positions. Since the beginning of the pandemic, that number has hovered around 85 or 90.
“We are actively recruiting and we’re filling positions, but not as fast as we’d like,” McGuire said.
Perli said this means the hospital is asking community members for patience and understanding, as short-staffing may lead to longer wait times or slower care.
“We’re seeing a lot of not only high-volume but complex patients,” he said. “I would ask the community that f they’re visiting the hospital, be kind to our employees. They’re working really hard.”
Additionally, McGuire said the hospital’s message on how community members can help has not changed.
“Our message is always the same,” she said. “Please get your vaccinations. Please get your boosters. Please wear a mask. Do not gather in large groups without social distancing or masking, and avoid it if you can. We’re not out of the woods. We need to keep doing these things.”