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Beaumont Health says its 10 emergency departments are nearly full due to 'perfect storm' of issues

Posted at 1:08 PM, Sep 15, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-15 17:17:25-04

(WXYZ) — Beaumont Health issued a statement on Wednesday saying its 10 emergency departments are nearly full, and encouraging patients with non-emergency medical conditions to visit their physician offices or urgent care.

Some of the patients are COVID related, but the overwhelming majority of patients have other medical conditions and concerns, according to Beaumont.

Dr. David Donaldson who chairs emergency medicine at Beaumont Hospital in Troy says healthcare providers are doing their best to manage the situation.

"We have done things like seeing patients and if you are stable moving you temporarily in a hallway area you know still attended by nursing and physicians and providers but you know you may be in the room and moved out."

Beaumont Health is also experiencing a blood shortage and they are encouraging everyone to donate blood.

"We are looking at surgeries and thinking can we provide this surgery because of the risk of blood loss because we may not have enough of a blood supply," said Dr. Christopher Carpenter, Chair of Internal Medicine at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, so the more people that can get out and donate that's going to be very helpful in that regard."

“Many people delayed getting tests and treatment for medical issues because of their concerns about the pandemic. Now, more than a year and a half after the pandemic began, those delays in care are resulting in medical emergencies. Plus, there are many people who still need to get vaccinated. So, our staff must care for those unvaccinated individuals who become extremely ill with the COVID Delta variant, or other variants, and try to balance all the other patients coming in with medical emergencies. Add in a staffing shortage, and you have a perfect storm,” Beaumont Health CEO John Fox said in a release.

About 180 of Beaumont’s beds are temporarily closed due to a staff shortage. They note they are aggressively trying to recruit team members.