DAVENPORT, Iowa — Hospital systems in the Quad Cities are seeing a replica of what they say one year ago. Both Genesis Health System and Unity Point-Trinity Health are seeing ICU beds fill up much quicker than they have been. Heads of the hospitals say there is only so much they can do.
Chief medical officer for Genesis Dr. Kurt Andersen saying, “We do everything we can to ask our staff to work over, ask our staff to work together. We’ve put a lot of pressure on them to maintain our capacity in the intensive care units and in our medical units.”
Chief medical officer at Unity Point-Trinity Dr. Toyosi Olutade echoes those thoughts saying, “We do not have just an endless number of staff.” Both hospital systems say they’ve been moving staff around as needed to make sure all patients are receiving the care they need.
It comes down to two different factors. The first one is actual physical beds available for patients. The second is the staff available to care for the patients in those beds. Right now, both are on short supply.
Dr. Olutade says they have had to transfer patients out of the Quad Cities to make sure they are receiving the proper care they need. “We have sent to the Chicago area and were trying to send a patient to Omaha and stopped in Des Moines. So, we have had to stretch far to get a patient a place.”
With cases going up the need for tests is too. Both hospital systems say as of now they have the supplies they need to meet the demand for tests, but it’s going to take longer to get results. Dr. Andersen saying, “Maybe a few days. So, we certainly are seeing a higher volume than ever other than last winter. That is stressing our resources to test internally, requiring us to send tests out.”
On top of that, there aren’t any state-run testing facilities open in the Quad Cities right now, and there aren’t plans to change that either. Rock Island Health Department chief operating officer Janet Hill saying, “Unfortunately, there are no testing facilities with state resources planned here in the Quad Cities. There are resources in Peoria, Rockford, Sterling and Dixon, but at this point there are no plans to open up a testing facility in the Quad Cities.”
In order to try and ease the strain on the testing capabilities of the hospitals, local health officials are continuing to urge residents in the area to wear a mask in both counties and receive a vaccine if you haven’t yet.
Scott County health department director Amy Thoreson saying, “We all were excited in the summer to see masks on clearance, but for right now I urge everyone to wear face coverings and get vaccinated.”