Sussex County Hospitals Overtaxed
February 1st, 2008 by Maria Evans
The intersection where an SUV collided with an ambulance.
I received an e-mail tonight from Judson Bennett and his Coastal Conservative Network that contains an all too familiar description of someone being hospitalized at Beebe Hospital in Lewes:
A friend of mine called me this a.m. and informed me that he had been hospitalized at Beebe yesterday, What was very interesting about the discussion I had with him was:
(a) for lack of any hospital rooms, he had been placed in a single room with six other patents;
(b) he noticed that other patients (not as fortunate as he) had been placed on stretchers up and down the corridors;
(c) a situation he thought Beebe was over-saturated with patients, lacked adequate in-patient facilities and, as well, was under-staffed.
Exactly. But let’s be honest, the problems go way beyond just overcrowding. Back in October, Dr. J. Ludwicki, a pediatrician who practices in Lewes and Milton, expressed his frustration over the way Sussex County newborns in distress sometimes wait 4 or more hours to get transfered to Christiana Hospital in New Castle County to receive critical life saving treatments. Most of the people I speak with in Sussex have no idea this situation even exists until something goes desperately wrong when someone around them gives birth.
As it stands now, if you have a baby in one of the County’s three hospitals and there’s a problem, you have to wait for the state’s only transport team, located at the Christiana Hospital, to come and take your baby to a higher level of emergency care. That would be either Kent General in Dover, a Level 2 facility, or Christiana, a Level 3 facility. The wait can take hours and hours….
And yes, the state has only one transport team. One. And that team could be in New Jersey transporting a baby when a baby with serious health issues is born here in Sussex. The team does have access to a helicopter, but a number of weather factors and the cost make the ambulance trip the more usual method.
Just last week I covered the terrible story of a Sussex County paramedic and two Millsboro EMTs who were stopped at an intersection off of Rt. 5 when their ambulance was hammered by an SUV. The SUV driver was dead at the scene. One of the EMTs, despite his injuries, dragged his damaged body to the side of the paramedic who had been ejected from the rear of the ambulance, and with the help of the other EMT, kept him alive until an ambulance arrived, then passed out.
Two members of the ambulance crew were in very serious condition and had to be flown to Christiana Hospital, the closest Level 1 trauma center, for critical lifesaving treatment. None of the hospitals in Sussex are over Level 3. Kent General in Dover is Level 2. It’s the same as the neonatal situation. Thankfully, the crew is home and on the mend.
And in Sussex we all know not to have a life threatening medical emergency on a Friday afternoon in August on the east side of the County. I can’t help wondering what effect the Townsend Village Centre, which will sit on one of the two main roads into Lewes, will have on the already stressed roadways around Beebe Hospital.
There’s a huge healthcare problem brewing in Sussex County, and something needs to be done about it now.
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:24 am
I always have been confused about how much emphasis the hospital has placed on their outpatient services. There are satellites all over the county for blood draws. x-ray services, EKG, etc. This is very convenient indeed for those needing the services as it does eliminate a drive to Lewes for the tests. However, with the increasing population in the eastern county, it is imperative that there is a place where a sick person can expect to be admitted with a bed, not some stretcher in the hall or in a ward-like setting. Perhaps the “powers that be” could get together and plan to build an entirely new facility for inpatient services. The hospital in Lewes only has approximately 130 beds to accommodate the patients at this time. In spite of the expanded emergency department there are frequently times when patients are lined up in the halls. It is indeed a very scary situation. It is especially unacceptable for a patient to have surgery scheduled, only to find out that there is no bed available for them. Something really needs to be done and very soon!!!!!
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Could a mitigating factor be that so many people are taking up valuable resources for trivial things like cuts, bruises, or just not feeling well?
The last time I visited an emergency room was 1963 yet I work in construction and suffer the occasional injury which disables me. In 2006 I was off work for three months. I didn’t see a doctor because I knew there was nothing that could be done for me and that it would take time to heal. In the last five years I have also shot a nail through three of my fingers and received numerous severe cuts, but I always stayed home and mended. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me to do that.
Nevertheless, if all the trivial cases stopped taking up the resources, the lack of more transport teams is still a problem which needs to be dealt with, quickly.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
John, Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should probably get a tetanus shot when you shoot nails through your fingers or suffer severe cuts. In fact adults should have one, every ten years. Who wants lockjaw?
In Milford there is an Urgent Care center. It beats going to the emergency room at Bayhealth/MMH for symptoms of the flu or just pink eye, when you can and will not be seen by your primary care physician. Trivial cases will always exist. Unless you are brought in on a stretcher there isn’t an emergency room in Sussex that will see you in a real flash and being on a stretcher doesn’t guarantee it either.
Doesn’t Beebe have an Urgent Care Center? And if not, why?
February 5th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Beebe does indeed have a walk-in clinic in Millville. However, it is only open on weekends. it is NOT for emergencies. I went there last year for ear issues and was treated very nicely. However, we do need a facility that is open 7 days a week and more that support the other neighborhoods in Sussex county.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I totally agree, as populated as each town has become, there should be an urgent care center within a 10 mile radius of each heavily populated area.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:43 am
been there done this even ten years ago beebe had not the room. i was in a very bad wreck that resulted in one fatal and myself mangled to this day
couldn’t fly me to christiana because chopper was down. anyway they patched me up and six more operations later still in pain maybe things would have been different with a real trauma center closer
February 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I believe Beebe is about to open a new wing with about 100 new beds including a 20 bed ICU. Trouble is, they pay poorly and so will probably not be able to adequately staff it. Many of the nurses I know make the hour+ commute to the Wilminton area hospitals because the pay is so much better.
February 11th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh, and part of the criteria for a Level I trauma center is to have 24/7 neuro surgeon coverage. There just ain’t enough bussiness around here to attract a group of neuro surgeons. Add to that the dilution of competent care argument and you can see why Beebe is a level 3.
Same goes for a NICU (nenatal ICU). There just isn’t enough of that kind of bussiness around here to warrant it. Imagine employing a dozen highly specialized nurses who take care of 2 premies a month. Just don’t make sense.
February 11th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
There is enough “business” if you put the 3 Sussex County hospitals together.
February 11th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Apply free market, why are there no neuro surgeons then? Also, address staffing. Where are the qualified staff coming from and how will they buy housing. What type of jobs are available for their spouses?
Better to get superior specialized care 100 miles from home than mediocre care around the corner. I remember when the local hospitals kept alot more trauma than they do now. Better outcomes. Careful what you wish for.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Maria Evans Says:
February 11th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
There is enough “business†if you put the 3 Sussex County hospitals together.
Recall that one of the three Sussex hospitals is owned by the Kent hospital. They already offer level two trauma and NICU services. Also, PRMC in Salisbury offers level I trauma and NICU services. A community hospital need not be all things for all people.
Also, I would like to see the data for all this business. Email me, please.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
This is from Lewes pediatrician Jay Ludwicki:
February 11th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I believe Beebe is a level III trauma center as is Bayhealth Milford.
I’ve never known an ambulance driver to obey the speed limit. I’m not sure what his argument is there. Christiana’s main campus is 35 minutes away by ambulance from Lewes and Seaford, less from Milford. I would still like to see the data, sounds like the good doctor may have an axe to grind or perhaps a ladder to climb.
February 12th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Sometimes, meatball, the ONE transport team that can move newborns is in NJ or PA picking up an infant. I’ve talked to women who have waited well over 4 hours at Beebe for the transport team to show up from Christiana for their newborns because they’re on other calls. During that time doctors and nurses are hand bagging the newborn. It’s not a good situation.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Maria says:
“It’s not a good situation.”
No doubt, suboptimal at best for all involved.
So then, wouldn’t it make more sense and be more cost effective to field a second transport team? Building, equipping, staffing, training, and maintaining a specialized unit may be indicated if the patient population exists, however if not, then patient care suffers and resources are squandered.
Again, community hospitals need not be all things to all people. I wonder what the the concentration of level I NICU beds is per capita in say eastern PA?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:11 am
How about centralizing the team in Dover instead of the other end of the state?
February 12th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Well, then we would give up lifenet out of Georgetown airport. Again, I think it boils down to cost effective care. Does it make good business sense to keepmore than two crews on duty on days when there are no transports just to manage the few days a year when there might be three in an overlapping time period