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Spokane Hospitals Say They Have Capacity For More Patients, Covid And Non-Covid

Screenshot from Spokane Regional Health District

Two Spokane hospital leaders say their facilities have capacity to see more patients, despite the high numbers of people receiving care for the coronavirus.

Susan Stacey is the chief operating officer at Providence Sacred Heart. She says Sacred Heart and Holy Family had 90 Covid patients between them Wednesday morning. David O’Brien, the chief executive at MultiCare in Spokane, said Deaconess and Valley Hospitals had 33.

“We’re seeing future trends that are quite worrisome. In anticipation of this growing surge, our hospitals have taken action to institute some of our Covid planning that we did earlier in the pandemic and activating our tactical teams," O'Brien said.

O’Brien says if the current surge continues, and even intensifies, his hospitals may have to change direction and devote more resources to patients with the virus. But for now, Susan Stacey is urging people to take care of their non-Covid medical needs.

“This is not the time to ignore serious health conditions," Stacey said. "Our hospital staff is well prepared. We have trained on how to use PPE. Our patients and their people who accompany them are all screened. We are very careful about how we’re providing care, not just in the hospital, but our clinics and offices and throughout the health care system.”

Stacey and O’Brien say hospitals can avoid capacity and staffing issues in the next few weeks if people minimize the size of their Thanksgiving gatherings this weekend.