BOISE, Idaho — Medical systems across Idaho are seeing dwindling resources as ICU’s and hospitals fill up with very sick patients battling the coronavirus. It’s reminiscent of December 2020, the most critical and challenging time Idaho fought up until now.
“Very concerning is, the number of patients in the ICU with COVID-19 is now the highest its ever been across the state at any point during the pandemic,” said Idaho Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen during a media briefing Tuesday afternoon.
Jeppesen toured an ICU in the Treasure Valley only a few days ago. Like accounts from frontline healthcare workers, Jeppesen describes a morbid and tragic scene.
“It’s really hard to describe the amount of sadness and suffering that’s occurring there. The ICU unit was full of COVID-19 patients that were all struggling, many for their lives. It was very challenging for them and their families,” Jeppesen said.
Crowded ICU’s, hospitals, and medical centers are already seeing consequences of overpopulation. During the West Ada School District meeting Tuesday, Dr. Jim Souza, Chief Medical Officer at St. Luke's, described the reality of the current situation.
“The bottom line is that the high quality of care that I think we are all used to has already eroded significantly. I would say what we are providing today is substantially less that the standards we expect but it is the best we can do and we are headed in the wrong direction,” Souza said.
Dr. Souza added that the standard of care has now evolved from operating under community standards of care to contingency standards. That is one step ahead of crisis standards of care, the protocol enacted when the medical system is so strained that hospitals would need to ration care and treatment based on need, severity, and available resources.
“We are dangerously close to crisis standards of care. In fact, last week we brought together the crisis standards of care activation advisory committee just to prepare them in case we are called upon to make that decision,” Jeppesen said.
That action can be requested from hospital systems as they see the need, it’s simply wait and see if that happens. Regionally, Idaho isn’t alone when it comes to serious COVID situations. Utah, Nevada, and Oregon are reporting increasingly circumstances. That means if Idaho runs out of resources, patients may be hard pressed to get treatment in neighboring areas.
KTVB’s sister station KGW spoke with ICU staff at a Bend, Oregon hospital. They outlined that when beds are filled with dying COVID patients other people in need of care are affected.
“What keeps me up at night are the patients who aren’t getting the surgery for their colon cancer because we are full of COVID patients. That’s what I lie awake thinking about every night, I think about the people I am discharging from the emergency department who normally would be admitted to the hospital but I’ve got no place to put them so we say well just go home and hope you don’t die,” said emergency room physician Dr. Gillian Salton.
RELATED: Kootenai Health prepares for 'crisis standards of care' as COVID-19 patients hit record high
In Idaho, although it got close, the COVID situation did not escalate to crisis standards of care in December of 2020. The truth, there is no guarantee that the Idaho health system will avoid that this time. Jeppesen says there is a major difference between now and late 2020.
“We have the answer and the answer is the vaccine. For those of you who have chosen to get vaccinated I say thank you, and for those of you who have not yet been vaccinated I urge you to consider getting the vaccine,” he said.
Jeppesen also highlighted that the medical community needs support, so the state is calling on the community in hopes of finding volunteers to fill a variety of needs. If you are interested in volunteering, click here to find opportunities in your community or in nearby areas.
Join 'The 208' conversation:
- Text us at (208) 321-5614
- E-mail us at the208@ktvb.com
- Join our The 208 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/the208KTVB/
- Follow us on Twitter: @the208KTVB or tweet #the208 and #SoIdaho
- Follow us on Instagram: @the208KTVB
- Bookmark our landing page: /the-208
- And we also turn each episode into a podcast on Podbean
- Still reading this list? We're on YouTube, too: