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Midland emergency doctor on COVID-19 crisis: 'We are stretched thin'

Last year, the ER at Midland Memorial Hospital was seeing about 120 or so patients a day. On Monday, there were 244.

MIDLAND, Texas — Not enough beds or staff continues to be the theme for local hospitals across the Permian Basin.                

A few months ago at Midland Memorial Hospital, the ER was not seeing any COVID patients. ER visits, in general, were actually down.  

Fast forward to this week, and there are not enough staff to care for COVID patients. It is getting to the point that it is hard to care for your everyday emergency patients.  

“We pride ourselves in the ER about being adaptable and handling whatever comes along," John Petersen, emergency department medical director, said. "But for some reason, we are really getting pushed harder during this round than we were last year.”  

Last year, when the world was still fairly shut down, and masks were mandated, the ER was seeing about 120 or so patients a day.

That number has doubled. On Monday, there were 244 patients. 

“It’s hard on the patients, nurses and support staff, it's hard on the physicians," Petersen said. "When you take an already difficult environment and job and add multiple layers of difficulty on top of it.” 

For some doctors and nurses, the stress is so much they have decided to find work in other places.  

“People are quitting and going to other venues of care where the stress and the loads are not as great," Petersen said. “It’s really just being unable to do the job you signed up for because the system is overwhelmed.” 

How do we stop the system from being overwhelmed?  

“I would really hope as people see their community suffering and people dying as a consequence of this that they would, well they already know what they need to do. They should just do what they need to do," Petersen said. "If they don’t get vaccinated, wear a mask.” 

Not a single patient who has had the vaccine has died of COVID-19 at Midland Memorial—a statistic Dr. Petersen wishes more people in our community understood.

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