As COVID-19 numbers continue to rise across the state, RiverView Health in Crookston is also seeing the effects on its hospital. “We’re calling this the fourth wave of COVID-19, and each week we see higher and higher numbers of cases,” said RiverView Health President and CEO Carrie Michalski. “Crookston and Polk County have not been able to avoid this or be an exception to the increase in cases.”
Michalski says COVID-19 continues to take a toll on all health care employees across the state. “It’s been a challenging time for health care workers, and as I’m networking with my colleagues around the state, everyone is saying the fourth wave has been the hardest on their staff than any part of the pandemic,” said Michalski. “We’re seeing a lot of strain on our communities and employees because of this pandemic.”
Michalski was also able to provide an overview of what she is seeing at RiverView. “We work with other hospitals across the state to be monitoring bed availability, and how many patients are in the hospital with COVID, and that continues to go up,” said Michalski. “We still aren’t confident in saying we’re at our peak, and we are seeing that in Crookston as well. We see patients every day that are coming through our testing sites and testing positive for COVID-19.”
Michalski noted that RiverView currently has enough space and beds in its hospital for COVID-19 patients, and their main issue is being understaffed. “It’s been really challenging emotionally for our staff, and because of that, we have fewer healthcare workers here in Crookston than we did a year and a half ago,” said Michalski. “Some of this pressure we’re hearing isn’t about space being available but rather not having enough clinical professionals available to manage the patients. We’ve had to delay a few surgeries because those patients would need a hospital bed and based on the COVID-19 patients and staff that we have available; we just haven’t had the resources we need to proceed forward with those.”
Michalski believes the severity in the cases is also starting to get worse with the fourth wave. She wants to remind everyone to thank their local health care workers for everything they have gone through and are going through during this pandemic.
