BUFFALO, N.Y. — Like a lot of other places, the "help wanted" sign is out at Western New York's largest standalone hospital.
ECMC is looking to hire frontline medical staff to handle what it calls an unprecedented surge in patient volume.
According to hospital officials, one day in May brought about the highest number of inpatients in the hospital's more than 100 year history, and the numbers haven't diminished that much since.
"We had well over 500 inpatients in May on a couple of occasions," confirmed Dr. Samuel D. Cloud, an associate medical director at ECMC where he also serves as an attending emergency room physician. "It was rare to have over 500 patients except during the early peak times in the summer, but now we're seeing over 500 routinely."
What's Behind the Rush
Dr. Cloud suggested there are a number of potential factors behind the unprecedented numbers at ECMC, which has 573 licensed beds and a staff of 3,800. Some is associated with the waning pandemic and patients who put off elective surgeries and other procedures now returning to have them done.
"During the pandemic some people were terrified to come into the hospital and are now seeking the care they deferred," said Dr. Cloud.
There are more people returning to jobs requiring a commute and with them, more folks on the highways, and more people, with the summer upon us, engaging in other activates that carry an amount of risk.
"With more people on the roads there are more accidents involving cars as well as motorcycles and ATVs. One of our biggest sources of trauma is actually falls," said Dr. Cloud, which can particularly serious to the elderly.
ECMC serves as the region's level one trauma center so it gets the bulk of trauma cases. As such, it also handles the most serious cases involving another set of patients, which is also increasing.
"Unfortunately there's been a rise in violence which is well documented here and across the country in the past year as well, which is impacting trauma centers," Dr. Cloud said.
Help Wanted
ECMC plans to hire dozens of frontline medical staff to handle the increased load which Dr. Cloud doesn't expect to ebb.
"Since the beginning of emergency medicine as a specialty in the 1960s, every year the volume in emergency medicine," said Dr. Cloud. "There was a lull during the pandemic... but now the volumes have come roaring back and they're actually above what they were in 2019."
According to Dr. Cloud, ECMC is not alone.
"I thought this was a Western New York phenomenon and then I started talking to friends of mine across the country recently and they are seeing the exact same thing," he said.
That being the case, and amid the backdrop of what numerous studies have described as a shortage of frontlines medical personnel, 2 On Your Side asked Dr. Cloud if he was optimistic that the needed staff can be found.
"From what i am told by our human resources department, when we open and post positions we're able to hire," he replied. "So I think we've been so far blessed to get the people we need when we need them."