Alabama slammed by COVID: ‘We can’t grieve for 1 patient before we have to take care of another’
Updated Dec 29, 2020;
Posted Dec 29, 2020
East Alabama Medical Center nurse Abby Smith works on a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Opelika, Ala. The medical center faces a new influx of COVID-19 patients as the pandemic intensifies. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)AP
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With its dozen intensive care beds already full, Cullman Regional Medical Center began looking desperately for options as more and more COVID-19 patients showed up.
Ten beds normally used for less severe cases were transformed into intensive care rooms, with extra IV machines brought in. Video monitors were set up to enable the staff to keep watch over patients whenever a nurse had to scurry away to care for someone else.
âLike a bathtub filling upâ: Alabama is slammed by the virus By JAY REEVES | December 29, 2020 at 12:06 PM CST - Updated December 29 at 11:12 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) â With its dozen intensive care beds already full, Cullman Regional Medical Center began looking desperately for options as more and more COVID-19 patients showed up.
Ten beds normally used for less severe cases were transformed into intensive care rooms, with extra IV machines brought in. Video monitors were set up to enable the staff to keep watch over patients whenever a nurse had to scurry away to care for someone else.
The patch did the job â for the time being, at least.
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BATON ROUGE, La. Luke Letlow, Louisiana’s newest Republican member of the U.S. House, died Tuesday night from complications related to COVID-19 only days before being sworn into office. He was 41 years old.
Luke Letlow speaks after signing up in July to run for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District seat.
Associated Press/Melinda Deslatte
Letlow spokesman Andrew Bautsch confirmed the congressman-elect’s death at Ochsner-LSU Health Shreveport.
“The family appreciates the numerous prayers and support over the past days but asks for privacy during this difficult and unexpected time,” Bautsch said in a statement. “A statement from the family along with funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time.”
Cullman hospital ICU hits 150 percent of capacity due to COVID; ‘Getting close to overflowing’
Updated Dec 22, 2020;
Cullman Regional Medical Center has struggled since early November with an onslaught of COVID-19 patients who have overflowed its 12-bed intensive care unit.
On Monday, the hospital had 18 patients on ventilators, 150 percent of its usual ICU capacity. Hospital administrators turned a regular medical surgery unit into a makeshift ICU for the extra patients.
Although the hospital has been able to handle all the patients, turning regular beds into ICU beds isn’t as simple as adding a ventilator, said Dr. William Smith, medical director of Cullman Regional Medical Center. Patients in intensive care require 24-hour surveillance, but the hospital built its medical surgery rooms for privacy. The hospital hired more staff to keep closer watch on the critically ill patients.
Postponing surgeries, calling up student nurses, Alabama hospitals enter ‘uncharted territory’
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
Posted Dec 17, 2020
The drive-thru testing site operated by Thrive Alabama in Huntsville reached its testing capacity shortly after opening on June 29, 2020. Demand for COVID-19 tests has increased around the state as Alabama sees record numbers of positive cases and hospitalizations. (Anna Claire Vollers / avollers@AL.com)
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Hospitals around Alabama have been forced to take steps this week to protect patients and staff as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rise to record numbers across the state.
Southeast Health in Dothan temporarily suspended some elective surgeries. Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden told ambulances it had run out of room in the hospital. And the University of Alabama at Birmingham called some nursing students into service as the hospital struggles with staffing shortages and a high volume of COVID