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On Tuesday, the state of Arkansas reported 66 new deaths from COVID-19, a disturbing new record for our state. UAMS, despite limiting the number of elective surgeries, has had difficulty keeping pace with the needs of patients with & without COVID-19...
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due to the impact of the pandemic on our community. In my conversations with other hospital leaders across the state, I am hearing similar stories. Our projections from @UAMS_COPH have been predicting this increased stress on our statewide healthcare systems for a while.
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Unless circumstances change drastically, this will get worse before it gets better. This virus is trying to break us here in the state of Arkansas, but while we are bending we are not about to break.
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That’s not because of the number of beds we have or the facilities we have built. It’s because of the healthcare providers at the front line who are going above & beyond to adapt to incredibly difficult circumstances.
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Our resources however are not infinite, & we will need to be very careful about how we utilize them until the vaccine for COVID-19 is readily available & given to everyone.
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Our next steps here at UAMS include asking our healthcare providers to take on more patients than usual, to reassign some of them to new duties that they are capable of, & potentially to start doubling up patients in single rooms.
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We will be constructing an addition to our emergency department in the adjacent parking deck for triage & other purposes. Hopefully nothing more is needed but if it is we have more arrows in our quiver.
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You can help us by thanking those who work in healthcare for the work that they are doing under these difficult circumstances, & more importantly abiding by the principles of masking & social distancing.
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I also implore you to embrace the vaccines that have been made available by the FDA, & to get your shots as soon as they are made available to you. I suspect that the amount of misinformation about the vaccines will increase over the next few weeks...
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...and I implore you to listen to trusted sources. I am very proud of the work that our state leaders are doing to curb the adverse impact of this pandemic. None of us agree on everything, but we should all agree on the sanctity of human life...
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...and the devastation that this pandemic has on the families of people that we know. We will get through this. We will get through this much sooner if we all work together.
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This virus is non-partisan, but it does feed on those of us who have limited access to healthcare resources. Let’s put those members of our community at the top of our minds right now.
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