WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — UPMC is one of many health care systems in our region that has seen a large surge in patients. Medical professionals at UPMC Williamsport say the hospital is approaching 130 percent capacity.
"Two patients in one room, depending upon their comorbidities, or we have people in gurneys lying in the emergency room, and we have additional units opened up," said Dr. Rutul Dalal, an infectious disease expert at UPMC.
UPMC reports that 78 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in its north-central region hospitals. The majority of those folks are not vaccinated. The hospital system has also seen a slight uptick in COVID-related deaths.
"We are definitely seeing a surge in deaths compared to where we were in the summer of this year, but we have not reached the levels that we had a year ago in December of 2020," said Dr. Dalal.
The hospital is experiencing longer wait times for the emergency department and is even practicing waiting room medicine to keep up with the demand for health care.
"We have made some makeshift beds outside in the waiting room area where treatment is given so that we don't waste valuable time. Sometimes patients are getting discharged right from there, depending upon their response to treatments," said Dr. Dalal.
Capacity is extremely high due to COVID-19 hospitalizations and the number of people coming in with non-COVID-related issues. Because of this, UPMC has postponed nearly 60 percent of non-emergent elective surgeries.
"We want those beds for patients that are coming in through the ER doors, and second of all, we want the health care staff to man the beds where we have patients coming in through the emergency room rather than utilizing them for post-operation care," said Dr. Dalal.
Dr. Dalal gave a lot of credit to his staff in regards to working in these conditions. He asked the public to support the hospital by getting vaccinated and practicing proper social distancing measures.
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