YRMC managing ICU capacity, transferring several COVID-19 patients to hospitals statewide
YRMC beginning to use ADHS surge line to transfer out COVID-19 patients to other Arizona hospitals with more capacity.
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Yuma County Health Department expects COVID-19 cases to peak in Yuma County within the next two weeks.
Overflowing cases are beginning to hit Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC).
As more people are testing positive, more people are admitted into the hospital.
Dr. Bharat Magu, Chief Medical Officer at YRMC, said, “As of late Friday, early Saturday, [YRMC] started to see a significant increase in patients coming to the emergency department and we had to use the surge line to keep the capacity.”
The surge line is a 24-hour direct line to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
The line was established at the beginning of the crisis for hospitals across the state to communicate when they’re at capacity and need to transfer patients out.
Dr. Magu said, “The silver lining is, as the rest of the state sees the incident of the disease go down, they have more capacity.”
YRMC reports 60 COVID patients in the hospital as of Tuesday.
More than 20 of those patients are in ICU.
To ensure the ICU has capacity for other community patients, the hospital started using this surge line to transfer some patients out to hospitals in Tucson and Maricopa County.
“Our main issue is ICU nurses. From ADHS we asked for four nurses and also two respiratory technicians,” Dr. Magu said.
He added, not all of the COVID-19 deaths reported by the county happen at YRMC, as some of Yuma County's COVID-19 patients died at hospitals in Tucson.
