PORT ANGELES – The number of people in the hospital at Olympic Medical Center is far below normal.
But OMC’s CEO, Eric Lewis, says they are still bracing for a possible surge in cases. Lewis says so far, things have remained quiet in the hospital with less than half the beds full and trips to the emergency room down significantly.
“Our patient volumes or down 40% or so. Our impatient census is right around 25 to 30 when we’ve been usually 40 to 45. The emergency department is slower, outpatient services is slower, but overall we have about 40% fewer patients.”
Lewis says a lot of the lower volumes came from a governor’s order to cancel all elective procedures to preserve hospital capacity. Lewis says he’s cautiously optimistic OMC is positioned to absorb any surge, and he hopes the community may fair better than predicted for COVID-19 cases.
“All hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, dentists and other health care organizations had to stop non-urgent surgery screenings, endoscopies and other services until May 27th. So, a lot of the work we used to do was put on hold by the governor and some of our patients are staying home because for non urgent care, so yeah, we’re quiet but ready.”
Lewis applauded the community for helping with donations and making masks and gowns to help health care workers across the region.