HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital
When COVID-19 first began spreading throughout the globe in early 2020, there were hopes that by the first holiday of the year – Easter – it would be under control and life could go on as normal. As we now approach the last holidays of the second pandemic year, it’s clear that “life as normal” remains elusive. COVID is a weight that seemingly bears down on us with unrelenting vengeance, and that weight may be no more apparent than in the hospitals where people go to, hopefully, recover or, sadly, to surrender to the disease.
Ken Nelson is the Chief Nursing Executive for HSHS Wisconsin Hospitals, which includes Sheboygan’s St. Nicholas. We asked to speak with him just before the Wisconsin Department of Health Services issued a Public Health Advisory on Monday (December 20th) as the Omicron variant was rapidly becoming the dominant variety of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the pandemic. Wisconsin’s Public Health Advisory was issued in hopes that the public would be vigilant about measures needed to avoid contracting COVID-19, including getting vaccinated along with boosters, social distancing, masking, and washing hands frequently. In anticipation of the oncoming surge due to the Omicron variant, the goal of the advisory was to avoid the health care system becoming overwhelmed, possibly delaying necessary, and sometimes life-saving treatments people need on a daily basis.
Amid all the news of hospitals around the nation and Wisconsin straining to manage the influx of patients, we wanted to get a feel for what the Sheboygan area in particular is experiencing. Nelson told us that St. Nicholas is “…very busy. Really always running pretty close to capacity. Our E.D.s (Emergency Departments) have been busy as well as the inpatient departments. We are seeing patients in the ICU at St. Nick that are sicker than we have seen in the past – or taken care of in the past prior to the pandemic. And in addition to that we are still seeing a large number of patients that come in with all sorts of other things, you know, strokes, heart attacks…sort of your standard, pre-pandemic things that bring you to the hospital.”
We asked Nelson if limiting-out on capacity is a situation that St. Nicholas has already dealt with. He told us: “When we do get very busy and near capacity, we want to make sure that people understand, first of all, that our doors are open, and if people come to us, we will see them when they come in. They may have to wait longer than they would like to.” “…another thing that we’re seeing at St. Nicholas, is, frequently, patients that are having to wait in the E.D. for extended time to be admitted, or to be transferred to a different hospital for a higher level of care. Because just as St. Nicholas and the Sheboygan area are seeing this inundation of patients, it’s happening in other areas, too. So that can make that wait that much longer. So…like I said, we are open for patients, but there are situations where people have to wait much longer than we would like, and certainly than they would like.”
Nelson told us that on occasion, St. Nicholas does receive patients from other hospitals that have reached capacity, and visa versa. And there also have been situations where transfers must be delayed because of the high volume of patients everywhere right now.
EVERYONE IS TIRED OF COVID…”IT’S BEEN TOUGH”
Whatever the situation in the community at large, it’s the healthcare workers in facilities like St. Nicholas that find themselves bearing the brunt of the unrelenting pandemic. We asked Nelson how the staff at St. Nicholas was holding up through it all.
“They’re tired, they’re burnt out, they are working hard. I can not give them enough credit for all the work that they’re doing every day. But, boy, it is a strain. You know, they are seeing…there’s been really no relief, and we keep asking them to do more. We ask them to work one more shift, or stay for those few extra hours, or come in on that day off. And it’s been tough. It’s been tough on health care workers everywhere. A lot of them have decided that they’ve had enough. A lot of folks have left healthcare, which adds more strain into the hospital itself.”
Nelson conceded that COVID fatigue is an issue everywhere, and that can eventually result in people giving up on staying the course needed to eventually emerge from the pandemic.
“I think that we’re all tired of COVID…everybody is. Healthcare workers, the general public, everybody…it’s been ongoing for so long. And…we’re a year into vaccination. And remember, back a year ago we thought that once the vaccine came out that things would start slowing down, we’d be able to get back to normal. Well, that’s not happened. It is hard to deal with for everybody. And, there are people that continue to do the right thing, and the things that we ask them to do, that everyone’s asking for whether it’s getting vaccinated, masking in public, distancing, that sort of thing. And there are some folks that don’t and they’re tired of it. While I understand their frustration with all of this, it certainly isn’t going to make things get any better.”
ORIGINAL, DELTA, OMICRON – THEY’RE ALL PART OF A “TERRIBLE DISEASE”
COVID fatigue may have serious consequences with the onset of Omicron. Some of the initial evidence suggested that Omicron may result in a milder form of COVID-19, but it spreads faster and more effectively than any known variant before it, and Nelson warned against complacency.
“I’m worried that, depending upon how the message is shared, that people will may hear one thing…and may hear that Omicron isn’t as bad, and that’s some of what we’ve heard. We don’t know that yet – it’s still so early to know. What we do know is that COVID itself, whether it’s Omicron, Delta, or the original native variant, it’s a terrible disease and it can cause a lot of damage. People have been dying from it and people right here in Sheboygan County have been dying of COVID. And people who have recovered, they often have a lot of symptoms for a very long time afterwards as well. So it’s not just a matter of whether you live or die from it, it’s the effect that it has on you longer-term as well as on you families…” “So I’m hoping that people, as they listen, it’s nice to have hope that maybe this new variant isn’t as bad, but overall it’s still very serious and everyone still needs to take the steps to protect themselves.”
“HAPPY HOLIDAYS”?
While Christmas and the New Year will come like clockwork, many in the healthcare field will not be celebrating with family and friends. We asked Nelson if workers at St. Nicholas and other HSHS hospitals in Wisconsin will be able to celebrate.
“They’ll have a holiday of sorts. In speaking with nurses, you know, nursing’s always in the hospital. It’s always been a 24/7 business, even prior to this. So people plan ahead for it. They either take time away outside the holiday itself in case they do have to work, and some won’t be off for the holiday. But we’ve also had a lot of people that have been willing to pitch in and come in and work extra on those holidays because there are patients to take care of, and that’s why we’re here.”
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