AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine's Health and Human Services Committee (DHHS) heard testimony Friday from hospital representatives about how the pandemic has affected staff and patient care.
It's no surprise both Northern Light Health and MaineHealth reported their hospitals are at or over capacity taking care of patients with COVID-19. On top of that, the number of people who need behavioral health beds has more than doubled through the pandemic.
The ripple effects of that, coupled with severe staffing shortages, impacts those waiting for surgeries, those who need critical care but can't get a bed at a larger hospital, and even Maine's aging population. Lisa Harvey-McPherson said Northern Light partners, including facilities that take care of the elderly, have lost 28% of their clinical workforce.
"Eastern Maine Medical Center's inpatient is at full capacity every day," said Harvey-McPherson. "So every single day we have 20-50 patients in regional hospitals, often very rural hospitals, who are very very ill and need transfer into EMMC for higher acuity level of care. And they are being cared for in these rural environments until our bed capacity becomes available."
Both hospital systems reported the average age of those affected by the Omicron strain of COVID has dropped. Northern Light has three people under the age of 20 in their care fighting the virus. MaineHealth reported two under the age of 10.
Katie Fullam-Harris represented MaineHealth on Friday's Zoom meeting with DHHS committee members.
She spoke about pulling health care workers, who normally work in surgery or in primary care offices, into more critical care to help with the surge in COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile, important procedures have been pushed back, while hospitals continue to lose money over procedure delays.
"That backlog of surgical cases is really troubling, particularly when we think about the fact that some of these cases are cancer cases," said Fullam-Harris. "These are not facelifts that people are delaying, these are surgeries that are necessary and are going to result in some real challenges for us over the next few months and probably year."
Fullam-Harris added that the blood supply is down 40%, which also severely impacts their ability to resume surgical procedures.
To watch the entire testimony, click here.