The hospital currently has the capacity to care for all patients, including those that have tested positive for COVID-19, said Mercy Health-Springfield President Adam Groshans.
Springfield Regional has a wing for coronavirus patients and he added that there is space to expand those services if needed. He said they have the ability to double the hospital’s capacity for coronavirus related patients for both Clark and Champaign counties if need be.
Bon Secours Mercy Health oversees both Springfield Regional in Clark County and the Urbana Hospital in Champaign County.
Groshans added that they are currently not managing COVID-19 positive patients at the Urbana Hospital, noting that those patients are going to Springfield Regional.
Since March, there has been a total of 171 coronavirus related cases in Clark County that have required hospitalizations and 33 in Champaign County, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
“We have seen peaks and valleys in the number of COVID patients in line with the number of cases in the region,” Groshans said.
“Doubling down on masking, social distancing and hand washing as well as and limiting unnecessary gatherings will help us avoid those peaks and we ask for the public’s continued help with this,” he said.
Coronavirus cases in Clark County have substantially increased over the past couple of weeks.
In terms of overall coronavirus cases reported in Clark County, that number was 2,821 cases as of Friday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
In Champaign County, there has been a total of 459 COVID-19 cases reported as of Friday afternoon.
However, COVID-19 hospitalizations can create an increased demand on resources and staff. Groshans said the hospital is currently looking to " balance the load of services and acuities across our sites to continue to care for all patients.”
“This includes evaluating the most appropriate use of services, load balancing and virtual care options when possible to assure that we have appropriate staffing levels for patients and the necessary breaks for our staff. These are things we evaluate daily,” he added.
Bon Secours Mercy Health’s operations are part of the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.
Sarah Hackenbract, CEO of GDAHA, said the rise in cases in the region is concerning because of the time of year. She said all facilities are managing capacity well, but hospitals have to prepare for the potential of a flu season surge on top of COVID-19 demand.
Flu season changes from year to year, but area flu hospitalizations typically start to climb the end of December.
“We want to get these COVID cases under control in the region so it doesn’t have any other ramifications,” Hackenbract said.
Staff Writer Kaitlin Schroeder contributed to this report.
By the numbers:
171: Number of Clark County COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalization since March
33: Number of Champaign County COVID-19 cases requiring hospitalizations since March
18,969: Number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ohio
About the Author
