LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A local hospital issued a disaster declaration over the weekend due to a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
St. Rose Dominican San Martin campus issued the declaration on Jan. 9. Dignity Health shared a company memo that said the hospital entered a Level 2 disaster declaration due to COVID-19.
Saturday, the hospital's general capacity was at 121% with ICU capacity at 137%. Saturday's memo also reported the hospital had 73 COVID patients, which represented 45% of its current census.
CORONAVIRUS: State of Nevada reports 21.3% positivity
San Martin reports it has been taking the following actions under its updated COVID emergency operations plan:
--All surgical blocks have been suspended for a 2-week period ending Jan. 22. We will be performing only urgent and emergent cases. These surgical cases will be prioritized based on the time of the request and the severity of the need. We will reassess the surgical block pause on Jan. 19.
--PACU will be opened as a non-COVID ICU
--Same-Day Surgery will be opened as a non-COVID Medical/Surgical unit.
--Medical-Surgical unit will be dedicated exclusively to COVID 19 care.
--A portion of our Maternal Child Unit will be re-purposed for non-COVID Medical/Surgical patients.
Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospitals also issued the following statement:
"Last weekend we experienced a surge of ICU patients which required us to call an Incident Command and quickly open alternative care areas. Once adjustments were made, things began to normalize. The purpose of the Incident Command structure is to organize actions to mitigate whatever issue is at hand. It is part of a normal hospital operations emergency response plan. Incident Command is established frequently to manage many different types of issues, from a planned power outage to computer downtime or, in this case, surge capacity.
In this critical time, we must work together to preserve space in our hospitals. The best way to assist hospitals and health care providers is to continue to follow public health guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Please remember this simple prescription: Don’t Share Your Air. Wear a mask, social distance, and get the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to you."
