INDIANAPOLIS On Wednesday, Indiana reported its highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations ever. Thats after it broke the record on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
At Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, the hospital has run out of room to store the dead. It is using a refrigerated truck that it acquired weeks ago in anticipation of this surge. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the hospital said its morgue is small and has reached its capacity. <\/p>\n
We are over capacity meaning if capacity is 100 percent we are over 100 percent, Dr. Graham Carlos said. <\/p>\n
Dr. Carlos is the hospitals executive medical director. He said they have run out of room and have had to get creative to make more beds available. <\/p>\n
We have expanded our room capacity to include rooms such as pre-anesthesia rooms, endoscopy rooms, perioperative areas to now be inpatient areas, Dr. Carlos said. <\/p>\n
Eskenazi is not alone in this problem. IU Health said it has refrigerated trucks on standby but hasnt had to use them yet. <\/p>\n
Several health systems tell FOX59 they have very little room left. Some have none at all. <\/p>\n
Our inpatient unit has been full for just days now, so every opportunity we have to discharge a patient home the bed is full immediately, said Linda Wessic, chief operating officer at Major Health Partners. <\/p>\n
Franciscan Health Indianapolis told us it currently has 96 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 conditions. <\/p>\n
We are approaching our highest level of admissions since late January 2021, when we treated 120 patients, a spokesperson for Franciscan Health said in a statement. The vast majority of these patients are unvaccinated.<\/p>\n
Franciscan said it is routinely holding numerous inpatients in the emergency department while they await beds. The systems is also operating beyond its staffed capacity at this time.<\/p>\n
Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis hospitals said they are in the same situation. <\/p>\n
There are 101 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis hospitals. That is an increase of 44 patients in the last two weeks. <\/p>\n
Ascension said that of the people who have died from COVID-19 at its hospitals, 90 percent of them were not vaccinated. <\/p>\n
These are sick patients that are in a hospital because you have a life-threatening problem and so its stressful to be continuously taking care of so many patients, Dr. Carlos said. <\/p>\n
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The rest is here: <\/p>\n
Eskenazi using refrigerated truck to store the dead as COVID-19 hospitalizations reach record levels - Fox 59<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INDIANAPOLIS On Wednesday, Indiana reported its highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations ever. Continue reading