BUFFALO, N.Y. — The latest numbers show that as of Monday, 185 people were in the hospital in Western New York with COVID-19.
The area's biggest health care provider, Kaleida Health, is getting ready to handle more patients. Kaleida Health has a whole system worked out — dual systems of care — a way to handle all the normal stuff and everything COVID-related at the same time.
Anticipating this second spike led to work this summer to come up with the dual systems of care. They are based on four things — workforce, supplies, space planning, and testing.
Here's how Kaleida's Chief-of-Staff Michael P. Hughes says Kaleida is dealing with the staffing component with COVID numbers heading in the wrong direction.
"In regards to our employees directly, nothing has changed from springtime when it comes to COVID-19," Hughes said. "Our number one goal is to keep our employees safe throughout the pandemic, so that's ensuring that they have the appropriate supplies and equipment for them no matter what hospital or what facility that they work at."
We know a lot of people have planned surgeries and regular doctors appointments coming up. If you have to go in for something planned, check with your doctor first, but everything that's scheduled is still on.
"The safest place you can be is the hospital," Hughes said. "It's the safest from COVID-19 with all of the measures we've put in place from an infection control perspective, cleanliness, things like that, so it's the safest place you can be. Second, as I said earlier, we're really operating a dual system of care, so our operating rooms are operating as scheduled and normal. That includes both planned and unplanned surgeries."
Most of Kaleida's volume, as far as how many adult patients they're seeing for non-COVID related visits, has come back.
On the pediatric side, the numbers haven't bounced back all the way.
And, all age ranges are going into the hospital for COVID-19 care.
"Some may say we're seeing a little bit younger demographic than we did back in the spring," Hughes said. "And then, in terms of visitation and rules and things like that, we're following state guidelines, so restricted visitation at this time, so, and that's just really just following New York State Department of Health guidelines."
