MIDLAND, Texas — Midland Memorial Hospital continues to see a high number of COVID-19 patients.
From July 13-19, there were 57 people hospitalized with the virus.
As of Tuesday, that number is down to 48. And while that is a step in the right direction, the hospital is still fighting an uphill battle.
They have not seen this many COVID patients, routinely, since the pandemic began.
And the influx is starting to wear on hospital staff.
“We’ll hire anybody we can find," Russell Meyers, Midland Health CEO, said. "But there’s not a lot of people out there to be hired.”
MMH is actively looking to hire frontline workers.
“There’s nothing at all easy about this," Meyers said. "Our staff has remained in good morale. But it’s hard work, it’s taxing on our staff who have remained healthy and of course, those [who were] sick want to return to work."
25 employees have recovered from COVID and another 42 are being monitored.
Getting them back means fully recovering from the virus themselves before they can help others do the same.
“We have 15 in critical care, ages ranging from 20s to the 80s," Meyers said. "33 in the medical unit, ages ranging from 20s to 90s."
Those numbers are higher than what the hospital has seen since March.
“We initially set aside a dedicated 12 bed unit and we have outgrown that and moved into our secondary critical care capacity,” Meyers said.
The hospital has had some success in hiring contract workers but is looking for more permanent employees.
As far as clearing employees who tested positive, the hospital tells me they must be 10 days out from getting diagnosed with the virus and symptom-free for at least 24 hours before returning to work.