An unfortunate milestone has been reached within Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) across Wisconsin and Illinois; A record 303 patients are currently hospitalized and being treated for COVID-19 in HSHS hospitals as compared with the previous high of 293 patients in November 2020, before a vaccine was available. These patients range from very young to elderly and include pregnant women.
“Although our hospitals are stressed and at near-capacity almost daily, HSHS continues to provide high-quality care to all patients,” says Ken Nelson, chief nursing executive, HSHS Wisconsin.
“To say we are concerned and disheartened cannot begin to explain our frustration,” says Dr. Marc Shelton, SVP and chief clinical officer for HSHS. “HSHS was hopeful to have turned a corner when the vaccine became readily available, but we are now well over a year into vaccine availability and yet our hospitals have reached a new record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations primarily due to unvaccinated patients.”
As of today, Jan. 7, across HSHS Wisconsin and HSHS Illinois hospitals:
303 patients hospitalized
230 are unvaccinated (76%)
64 patients in the ICU
51 are unvaccinated (80%)
32 patients on ventilators
27 are unvaccinated (84%)
“Although our hospitals are stressed and at near-capacity almost daily, HSHS continues to provide high-quality care to all patients,” says Ken Nelson, chief nursing executive, HSHS Wisconsin. “No one should delay care, especially emergent, for fear of COVID-19 or overloading any health care entity.”
