East Idaho hospitals are worried about rising COVID-19 numbers

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Hospitals in Eastern Idaho are seeing an increase in patients from the regional area, plus Montana and Wyoming as well.

The State of Idaho Disaster Medical Advisory Committee sent a letter to Governor Brad Little expressing their concern of rising COVID-19 numbers across the state.

Hospitals in East Idaho are having their challenges keeping up with the rising numbers.

"We've had several instances where we had utilized all of our ventilators that we have in place," Idaho Falls Community Hospital COO, Casey Jackman said in the Zoom meeting with Eastern Idaho Public Health.

Idaho Falls Community Hospital COO Casey Jackman said in a public meeting that his hospital is filling up with COVID-19 patients. They acquired two ventilators from FEMA to bring their total to 10. In the past two weeks, there was a time where they were using nine of 10 according to Jackman.

"We have had a couple of times in the ICU where we did not have enough staffing to be able to handle some patients and luckily I was able to send those over to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and they were able to keep those patients here in this area," Jackman said. "But I'm sure that put an additional strain on them."

Staffing is an issue for all hospitals including EIRMC. They have hired 6-10 new ICU nurses because they are getting more patients from Eastern Idaho area hospitals. Plus, hospitals in Montana and Wyoming.

"We hope, going into the wintertime, we're in a much better situation," EIRMC COO, David Hoffenberg said in the Zoom meeting with Eastern Idaho Public Health. "Right now we are managing well but still very tight, so just wanting to keep our folks healthy and, you know, happy and not burnt out."

For Madison Memorial, they currently have three COVID-19 patients in their hospital as of Thursday morning.

They had to transfer a patient overnight on Tuesday to Idaho Falls to get special care due to staffing.

"I had a conversation with a patient this week, making a comment of, 'how come you don't hire just hire more nurses?' I was explaining to her that a nurse, isn't a nurse, isn't a nurse," Madison Memorial CEO, Rachel Gonzales said. "Basically, you know you have different physicians with different specialties, you have different nurses with different specialties.'

Steele Memorial in Salmon has a challenging two weeks due to increasing numbers. They sometimes have trouble transporting patients due to oxygen needs.

"This past week we've transferred out 10 patients," Steele Memorial Medical Center's, Lisa Loughran said. "We are seeing in our emergency department, an average of, probably four to five covid patients a day. And when you have a core nursing staff of one Ed nurse and one Ed doctor. It's extremely challenging."

With winter around the corner, some hospitals said in the letter that they want a mask mandate in place to reduce numbers in the Gem State.

KIDK Eyewitness News 3 and Local News 8 reached out to Bingham Memorial and Portneuf Medical Center. They did not get back to us for comment.