Kootenai Health Hospital Status Update
Over the past three weeks, Kootenai Health has seen a significant increase in the number of COVID patients. On July 6, we had three hospitalized patients who had COVID-19, and through our testing center, we had identified a total of 420 positive cases. One week later, on July 13, we had eight COVID patients in the hospital and the number of total positive tests through our testing center jumped to 718. A week after that, on July 20, we had 19 COVID patients in the hospital and 1,022 positive tests through the testing center.
Kootenai Health has implemented a number of changes to help accommodate patients with COVID-19 as well as those patients who are here for other reasons. Here is an update on our status as of 3:00 p.m. on July 22.
COVID-19 Unit: Kootenai Health has designated one medical unit as its COVID-19 Unit. Patients with COVID-19 will be cared for on this unit.
Critical Care Unit: Kootenai Health’s Critical Care Unit has 26 beds. Six more hospital rooms have been converted to critical care rooms with additional equipment and features. These additional rooms will help accommodate the patients we typically see in Critical Care such as those who need cardiac care, neurosurgery, and trauma care as well as severely ill COVID patients. With the addition of these six rooms, we currently have four open Critical Care Unit beds.
Additional critical care nurses have been brought on so we have enough staff to care for our COVID-19 patients as well as other critical care patients.
COVID-19 patients: Kootenai Health currently has 22 inpatients with COVID-19. Five of these patients require critical care and the remaining 17 patients are receiving general medical care.
Ventilators: In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, ventilators were used extensively and there was quickly a shortage of ventilators. As more has been learned about the most effective course of treatment for COVID-19, other equipment, such as a BiPap machine, is being used more frequently. At this point, we are confident we have enough ventilators and ventilator-alternatives such as BiPap, to effectively care for our COVID-19 patients.
Beds, qualified staff, personal protective equipment, and medical equipment are all necessary to care for our COVID-19 patients as well as our other patients. Our health care team is continually monitoring all our resources to make the best decisions possible to care for our community.
