BEAVER DAM (WKOW) -- As COVID-19 cases surge and more people need medical care, hospitals across Wisconsin are filling up and reaching capacity.
"We have been running at capacity for the last few weeks," Angelia Foster, the chief administrative officer for Marshfield Medical Center - Beaver Dam, said Wednesday.
However, she doesn't have as many staff members as she would like to treat those patients.
"We've seen about a 20% vacancy rate in our staffing," she said. "Even before this latest surge, lots of people have chosen to leave healthcare."
Her facility isn't alone. Across the state, health care facilities are struggling to keep staffing at adequate levels to treat the number of patients coming to hospitals.
So, Wisconsin's Department of Health Services is requesting five FEMA teams to help staff Wisconsin hospitals.
"There may be in the neighborhood of about 20 staff per FEMA team," DHS Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake said. "The real strategy here is to use those staff strategically to make sure that we can free up capacity in our ICUs."
While Wisconsin hasn't yet reached the November 2020 peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations again, hospitals are treating more patients with the virus right now than they were a year ago.
Hospitalizations in Wisconsinpeaked on Nov. 17, 2020with 2,277 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. By Dec. 8, 2020, that had declined to 1,566 patients. In July, COVID-19 hospitalizations tanked and by July 8, 2021, only 82 patients in Wisconsin hospitals had COVID-19. But numbers have been increasing and there were 1,611 COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Dec. 8, 2021.
"It's not great to be back in the same spot," Foster said. "I'm really concerned about my staff and how are they going to navigate their way through this again."
Last December, Marshfield Medical Center - Beaver Dam had to reduce elective surgeries because of staffing and capacity challenges.
Foster said she's hoping to avoid that this year. However, she says she doesn't see a glimmer of hope on the horizon during this surge.
"We're really just anticipating this could go on for months, and what I'm asking the community to do is help us to get a breather here," she said.
Foster said most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 right now are not vaccinated. She said getting your shot is the best way to help health care workers, because the vaccine will give you more protection against serious illness if you do get sick.
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