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Kelly Girtz after he released a joint state
ment with other elected officials seeking to
reassure the public.
Nursing Shortage Continues
Nursing shortages in Georgia are noth
ing new. Georgia officials warned last
November that the nursing shortage had
reached a crisis level, exacerbated by low
wages and retirements outpacing new
recruits. In recent months, however, the
pandemic has taken an even bigger toll.
The Georgia Department of Public Health
put out a call in late March for medical and
non-medical volunteers and thousands of
retired nurses stepped up to the plate. The
Georgia Nurses Association expressed con
cern in April that nurses were being sent to
New York to aid with the pandemic when
they were likely to be needed in Georgia.
Matt Caseman, executive director of the
Georgia Nurses Association, said in March
that as the virus spreads he worries that
nurses would “get burned out” or “there
simply wouldn’t be enough nurses on the
front lines.”
Both hospital administrations, however,
persist in saying that things are under
control.
“We continue our work to maintain a
safe environment to meet the care needs
of patients with COVID-19 and those with
other medical conditions,” says the state
ment from St. Mary’s. “We understand the
risks of delaying care and want patients to
feel safe in our facilities. We urge the com
munity to stand with our hospital heroes
in the fight against COVID-19 by wearing
a mask [#maskupgeorgia], maintaining
physical distance, and washing your hands
often.”
“Throughout the pandemic, Piedmont
Athens has accepted transfers of patients
from within its GEMA region—and also
from outside of it—and will continue to
do so as capacity warrants,” says Burnett,
the CEO. “Many of the patients that we
accept do not require intensive care unit
beds, thanks to the response and hard
work of our team at the local and system
level. Advances in clinical protocols have
improved our ability to treat patients with
this truly novel disease—it did not exist
nine months ago, but we are learning all the
time—and to help them recover. As part of
our efforts, we have created additional bed
capacity to handle both COVID-19 and non-
COVID-19 patients. We are consistently
planning for ways to manage capacity—
locally and across our system—during this
pandemic and otherwise. These fluctuations
aren’t new to our team, and we are well-
equipped to handle this increase by manag
ing capacity on a daily basis.”
What Happens When
Students Return?
Given the state of hospitals and the
increase in positive COVID-19 cases in
recent weeks, doctors say they are con
cerned about UGA students coming back for
in-person classes in just a little over a week.
“I am concerned,” says Hicks. “I’ve thought
about this specific idea a lot over the past
couple of weeks. It’s very concerning about
what could happen when students come
back.”
“It’s not just the students I’m worried
about,” he says, “but it just increases com
merce and increases people being out and
about at restaurants and bars. You know
you have staff at UGA, teachers. You have
workers. There’s going to be more people
out and about exposed to each other. If we
get a surge, I don’t believe that our hos
pitals will be able to handle it. That’s my
opinion.”
To handle such a surge, hospitals
would have to get creative by adding
more ICU bed space or send patients
to Gainesville, Atlanta or Augusta.
“I’m definitely concerned that we are
heading in that direction,” Hicks says.
Earnest voices further trepida
tion about UGA students returning.
“College students just seem like a
recipe for rapid viral propagation,” he
says. “These individuals, they’re not in
a bubble. They’re interacting with all
sorts of people. They don’t all kind of
live in a dorm by themselves. They’re
living in intergenerational houses.
They’re working in businesses with
people who are older. They’re eating
at restaurants and going to bars, and
they’re mixed into our community. I
really do fear what’s going to happen.”
For doctors, nurses and other
health-care workers in our health-care
system, thinking of others could go a long
way. Fatigue for many of our health-care
workers is really setting in, says Hicks. “I
think what contributes to that frustration
is knowing that we shouldn’t be in this sit
uation at this point,” he says. “I mean, this
country could have done a better job deal
ing with this.”
Earnest stresses the need for everyone to
take the pandemic seriously. “Think about
how your actions could affect somebody
else, and assume that you are positive,” he
says. “I think that the assumption of posi
tivity would go a long way in lessening the
spread of the disease. Because I get exposed
so much, I assume that I am positive so I
have basically no interactions that would
put someone else at risk. I think if everyone
assumed that they were positive, this dis
ease would end very quickly.”
It’s also important to wear a mask,
Earnest says. “It doesn’t even really matter
if you’re not worried about yourself. That’s
fine. I get it. But worry about the person
you could give it to,” he says. “The mask is
not protecting you. It’s protecting the other
person. I wear my mask for you. You wear
your mask for me. It has nothing to do with
you being scared. It has to do with being
empathetic and thinking of others.” ©
ri
GEMA’s Region E consists of Clarke and 11 surrounding
counties, with most hospital beds concentrated in Athens.
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