A Thursday COVID Zoom news briefing was a mixed bag of hope and some good news amid still high hospitalization rates at both Medical Center Hospital and Odessa Regional Medical Center.
The hope is that the most recent surge of COVID patients has leveled off and that funding help is on the horizon.
MCH CEO Russell Tippin and ORMC CEO Stacey Brown made separate pleas to the Odessa City Council Tuesday requesting American Rescue Plan Act funds. Hospital officials said the funds are needed to help them hire more nursing staff to care for COVID-19 patients.
The city council recently received $10 million in ARPA funds. MCH is requesting $4 million, ORMC $2,592,000.
Tippin said MCH is struggling with a severe nursing shortage at a time when COVID numbers have increased locally. His concerns were echoed by Brown on Tuesday.
During the Thursday Zoom call both expressed appreciation for the consideration being given by the council and high hopes that their requests will be granted.
Both also agreed that the need for funding is now as they are competing for nurses with hospitals around the world.
“It’s put quite a strain on our facility,” Brown said. “If we can’t get any more help within the next two weeks, we’ll have to cut back on the number of (COVID) patients we can take.”
The city council will vote on the funding requests during their Tuesday meeting.
On Thursday, Tippin said MCH had 90 COVID patients and that 26 were on ventilators. The age range of the patients was 17 to 88 and only 11 of the 90 were from somewhere other than Odessa.
Brown said 27 COVID patients were at ORMC Thursday and that 89 percent were unvaccinated and most were from Ector County.
COVID Incident Command Chief Rodd Huber reported that 626 patients have been treated to date at the Regeneron clinic and that a mass vaccine clinic is coming.
The clinic will be a joint effort of the City of Odessa, the University of Texas Permian Basin and the Ector County Health Department. The clinic is scheduled to begin Sept. 21 Tuesdays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be first and second doses or additional shots with a doctor’s note.
Huber said they are also looking at state COVID testing coming soon, but no date is set yet.
ORMC Chief of Staff Dr. Rohith Saravanan clarified the difference between coming booster shots and additional shots. He said additional shots past the initial first two doses are for people who are immuno-compromised.
In other COVID news:
The Biden administration on Thursday announced plans to mandate that federal workers are immunized.
Brown said ORMC would only make that decision as part of a broader decision by their company and Tippin said for MCH that would be a board decision.
Tippin added that the mandate issue has come up before and that the board does not appear to support it.
Tippin said he has fielded a number of calls about long white “tubes” on the MCH campus. He said they are piping cold air up to the higher floors at MCH because so many windows are open to let fresh air into the COVID units, thus taxing the A/C system.
A Midland COVID news conference detailed 12 COVID deaths since Sept. 1 at Midland Memorial Hospital. They also reported a 42.4 percent vaccination rate of those eligible in Midland.
Reminder that the Urgent Care on 42nd Street near Permian High School will temporarily close Monday to funnel staff to the JBS and west side urgent cares.
Brown and Tippin will be honored during the Heritage of Odessa awards in November. Both said they were humbled for the honor for their leadership during the COVID crisis and both praised their staff for making their jobs easier.
“Surround yourself with smarter people and it is easy to lead,” Tippin said.
Brown agreed saying “It’s a reflection of our organization as a whole … our caregivers and doctors and all … It’s an honor.”
