Oregon health care leaders plead with community as Delta variant overwhelms hospitals

PORTLAND, Ore. — Leaders from Providence, Legacy, Kaiser, and OHSU spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon, as health care workers are “stretched the breaking point” by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Some healthcare systems have had to delay non-emergency surgeries to adequately staff their hospitals.

Chief Medical Officers and Medical Directors from the regional hospitals shared statistics of their overwhelmed emergency departments and intensive care units and pointed to the even more grim COVID-19 forecast if the surge is not curbed, all while imploring people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

We’ve gathered today to share a collective sense of urgency around the unprecedented spread of the Delta variant," said Dr. Seth Podolsky, Chief Medical Officer at Legacy Health .“We plead with you in our communities to understand that Delta is different.

Podolsky went on to explain that the Delta variant on the coronavirus is causing more infections and spreading faster, it's impacting younger populations, and is being transmitted by both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. He said the viral load of the Delta variant, which is how easily the virus can be spread from one person to another, was "up to 1,000 times greater" compared to the original strain of the virus.

According to Dr. Mary Giswold, the Associate Medical Director of Hospitals at Kaiser, at the height of the pandemic in 2020, there were 622 Oregonians in the hospital due to the virus.

"Today, we have more than 1,000 people in the hospital because of COVID," said Giswold.

Two frontline nurses also spoke, sharing emotional testimony of their experiences working with COVID-19 patients. One Providence RN described her most recent shift at work.

“My last shift, I was reduced to tears. I get choked up talking about it again, probably because I’m just super frustrated," said Debbie Sanchez. She described helping one patient out of her car who couldn't walk on her own to the front desk-- she was COVID-positive for the second time. But this time, the patient told Sanchez she was "so much sicker" compared to the first time and "she was afraid she was going to die."

PAST COVERAGE | Portland Providence ICU nurse shares frontline perspective on COVID-19 patients

Sanchez described the backlog of patients waiting for ICU beds. She also spoke of how she saw one man who had been delaying going to see a physician because he was worried that the hospital was full.

"We diagnosed him with cancer that day," said Sanchez. "Something that probably could have been preventable."

"We're doing our best, but with fewer staff and fewer beds, we're struggling to meet our patient's needs. We're also scared for our families and our co-workers. Sometimes we wonder, are we doing enough? If we are enough?" said Sanchez.

Her message Wednesday was: get vaccinated.

RELATED | COVID overruns ICU at OHSU as exhausted doctors, nurses struggle to keep up

A Providence ICU nurse spoke about how this surge is different from those in the past.

"We’ve done our level best. We’ve tried really hard to save a lot of lives. And we’ve done a pretty good job," said RN Levi Cole. "The war has changed. The enemy has gotten meaner, and society as a whole has let its guard down. And we’re all pretty overwhelmed and pretty exhausted and are running out of the available will and faith in society to do its part so that we can help them."

He said he was asking for the community to step up to do its part to stop the spread of the Delta variant.

"The ages of people I’ve put in body bags in the past couple of weeks are 20, 37, 42, 45, 52," said Cole. "I’ve seen a lot of people die in the last year and a half and it’s picking up pace at a sort of unprecedented rate. It’s never been as bad as it is right now. It’s truly awful."

In a statement ahead of the press conference, the All4Oregon group said that more hard decisions lie ahead. You can watch their testimony in full below:

This comes as Oregon reported 2,800 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday and 30 new deaths.

READ MORE | Oregon reports 30 new coronavirus deaths as hospitalizations reach a pandemic high

Hospital leaders say the surge has yet to reach its peak.

Meanwhile, roughly 400 National Guard service members have been sent to Oregon hospitals in central, eastern and southern Oregon.

The state requested a total of 1,500, so work is currently being done to figure out where to deploy the rest.

RELATED | 400 Oregon National Guard members now deployed to aid hospitals in COVID-19 surge

The National Guard was sent to help with non-clinical work, so the licensed health professionals could focus more on the patients.

FEMA has deployed 24 EMTs to the areas. This clinical support is desperately needed as many hospitals are dealing with an exhausted workforce and staffing shortages.

To support health care workers in hard-hit areas of Oregon, Governor Brown's office announced the state has finalized a contract with medical staffing company Jogan Health Solutions to deploy hospital crisis teams.

MORE | Health care workers head to central, southern Oregon hospitals to help with COVID-19 surge

A total of up to 500 health care personnel will head to central Oregon to support the St. Charles Health System in Bend and Redmond areas, and to Southern Oregon to support Asante hospitals in Medford, Ashland, and Grants Pass, as well as Providence-Medford Medical Center and Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg.