With the recent significant COVID-19 spike, many hospitals are stretched thin — Pecos County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) is no different.

The PCMH Board discussed numerous items during their meeting on Aug. 17, including the lack of sufficient staff needed to treat COVID-19 and regular patients. Several department heads and medical staff members were welcomed to share their thoughts during the meeting.

Naomi Valenzuela, head of respiratory therapy, has witnessed firsthand needing more respiratory staff to help keep patients’ oxygen levels up.

“We only have one respiratory therapist per shift,” Valenzuela said. “So that means if the ER is busy, we cannot babysit a ventilator on somebody who is ventilated on the floor, and we can’t send them anywhere. Looking for a higher level of care is like looking for a unicorn, they are nonexistent.”

Valenzuela added that the one respiratory therapist may be called into surgery for part of their shift and later on, they are called to do something else. She described the current experience as burning a candle at both ends.

The state awarded PCMH with two nurses and two respiratory therapists, according to Interim CNO Pam Clark. The added staff will be split between the day and night shifts.

Patients with the Delta variant are coming in with worse symptoms, Dr. Harry Shen explained.

“They tend to be sicker,” he said. “They are getting higher amounts of oxygen and a higher level of support. From our standpoint, we can only do so much at this facility with the resources that we have.”

Dr. Shen added that they are trying to shift to a plan where they keep the most critical care patients in the ER. It may come to a point where the hospital will have to direct patients to another facility due to the lack of necessary staff and resources.

“It’s not something that I think we want to do by any means, but we need to know our limits here,” he said. “Between our discussions with medical staff and the ER, we have a limit here and we have to recognize that.”

PCMH has drawn up a staffing recruitment and retention plan that will need the Pecos County Commissioner Court’s approval before moving forward. Details are not available at this time.