Medical Center Hospital director of public relations Trevor Tankersley said during Monday’s Zoom press conference that Friday’s 33 patients in house has been the lowest since the second surge of the Delta variant.
Odessa Regional Medical Center detailed seeing the same trend.
As of Monday, MCH had 35 patients in house, while ORMC has 14 and Scenic Mountain Medical Center has seven. MCH has 19 in critical care with 15 of them on ventilators. ORMC has seven in ICU with three on ventilators and Scenic Mountain has one in ICU and one on a ventilator.
Despite numbers continuing to decline, MCH Chief Nursing Officer Christin Abbott-Timmons said people should remain mindful to prevent another winter surge.
“As we go into the holidays and the winter months that wearing your mask, social distancing, being aware of those people that you are around, washing your hands, wiping your grocery cart down with sanitizing wipes,” Abbott-Timmons said. “All of those practices that kept the flu at bay when COVID first came through are very important.”
ORMC Chief Nursing Officer Carol Cates added: “The things that prevent COVID transmission also prevent flu transmission, prevent RSV transmission, prevents even colds. Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay away from people when you are sick and stay home when you are sick. Those things are all wonderful at preventing any viral air illness.”
At the beginning of the Zoom press conference, MCH CEO and President Russell Tippin addressed the viral photo of a COVID patient being transported within the hospital showing a plastic drape over the patient’s head and upper torso.
Tippin said he spoke with the mother of the patient last week over the phone. Tippin said they had a pleasant conversation and the woman walked Tippin through the whole situation and details that MCH was wondering about.
“During my conversations, I did apologize to her and to her daughter for that whole experience,” Tippin said. “We at Medical Center realize that we had a situation that we failed to do our best that we failed to give them the best experience possible. We do apologize for that.”
In response to the drape incident, MCH’s exposure committee and transportation committee has spoken about how to transport patients with COVID around the hospital.
Abbott-Timmons said if a patient’s oxygen demand is less than six liters, they are going to be transported in a flat mask over their nose and mouth and they will be sitting a wheelchair. If a patient’s oxygen demand is more than six liters, they are going to be transported via bed that will have a dome-type drape where the patient won’t have to wear a mask underneath and they will be seen and monitored at all times.
“We really feel like this adjustment is going to serve a safe environment as well as a safe perception by our patients and their families,” Abbott-Timmons said.
Tippin said Ector County Hospital District continues to be on high alert after death threats were made in connection to the drape incident.
“There were threats made to just about everybody including myself and the board of directors,” Tippin said. “We have alerted the proper authorities and we are doing everything we can do to guard our staff.”
