PeaceHealth sees number of COVID-19 hospitalizations drop, warns of possible holiday surge

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PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver has seen a recent drop in hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

In a Wednesday press conference, hospital authorities said the number of COVID-19 patients at the Vancouver hospital is at 27, down from 42 in the first week of December. While hospitalizations are down, officials warned that Clark County could see a possible surge of infections and hospitalizations following travel and gatherings for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

“We are seeing some early signs that we watch as indicators that things might be getting worse,” PeaceHealth Columbia Network Chief Medical Officer Lawrence Neville said on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the current rate of new infections in Clark County was 36.1 cases per 100,000 people, a small rate decrease. In Cowlitz County, where PeaceHealth operates its St. John Medical Center, the case rate is rising at 29.6 cases per 100,000 population.

As for difficulties surrounding COVID-19 care, Neville said staffing remains PeaceHealth’s biggest priority for fighting the virus.

“We can always make more beds. We can set up tents and open wings of the hospital,” he said. “It’s having qualified nurses and pharmacists and doctors who are well and healthy and able to work that is going to be the issue if we see a doubling of our COVID-19 numbers.”

On Wednesday, Neville said capacity at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center was in “good shape” at 84 percent of total capacity for hospital beds and 63 percent in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). In order to help combat a possible surge of infections, PeaceHealth implemented restrictions on most visitors to the hospital. Exceptions to the visitation rule include guardians of hospitalized minors, expecting mothers and other specific circumstances.

“This is a decision we don’t do lightly and we know it’s very hard on patients and their family members to have their loved ones in the hospital and not be able to visit,” Neville said. “The reason we’ve done this is because the community prevalence is very high right now because of COVID-19 and we have to wrap our patients and healthcare workers in a bubble of protection.”

Neville urged the Clark and Cowlitz County communities to take all safety precautions surrounding the virus and make the hard decision to limit family and friend gatherings during the upcoming winter holidays.

“Please stay the course and practice the ‘three W’s,’” Neville said, mentioning the three W’s are “watch your distance from others,” “wear a mask,” and “wash your hands.”



“If you can keep doing that for another six to 12 months, we will get through this together.”

Likening giving up on fighting the virus now to forfeiting a football game while you’re on the 1 yard line before a game-winning score, Neville said he wanted the community to keep on pushing through to have victory over the virus as well as honoring those who have lost their lives along the way.

“I know this has been super hard. I live it myself. I talk to my doctors and nurses and community friends, and this has been a hard road and it has led to loneliness and led to a feeling of distance from families and a real sense of loss,” he said. “What I will say is for the first time with the vaccines, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for us.”

While the vaccine had not been approved for use in the United States as of Wednesday, Neville said PeaceHealth has been selected by the state of Washington to be a “staging area” for COVID-19 vaccinations. Neville said if the Food and Drug Administration were to authorize use of the vaccine over the Dec. 12 weekend, the hospital could start administering the vaccine to healthcare and other at-risk workers sometime during the week of Dec. 14. Once hospital workers, first responders and other essential workers throughout the community have received one or both of the vaccinations, PeaceHealth is scheduled to work and participate in efforts to vaccinate the greater Southwest Washington community.

PeaceHealth Nurse Manager Jackie DeCillo has been managing a COVID-19 unit at PeaceHealth since March and said all employees of the unit have the option to get tested weekly as a safety precaution. DeCillo said those working in the unit are not required to take COVID-19 tests, however many do for a sense of peace during a tumultuous time. Along with offering tests for staff, DeCillo said PeaceHealth has taken an initiative to offer mental health resources for caregivers working on the unit.

“We do realize that it can be very stressful working in the environment and working in PPE all day and we want to make sure that we’re taking care of their physical and mental well-being,” DeCillo said.

Neville and DeCillo both expressed concerns around the possible “twindemic” of COVID-19 and the yearly influenza season. While medical staff at PeaceHealth haven’t seen the “twindemic” effect yet, Neville said the flu is notorious for “fooling us and sneaking up on its own time frame.”

The duo advocated for community members to get their yearly flu shot as a way to combat the anticipated flu season.

“It’s the best way to protect you and your family at a time when we really need everyone to be as healthy as possible and we would be in a more difficult situation for sure if we had a lot of flu patients in the hospital simultaneous with a lot of COVID-19 patients,” Neville said.