PHOENIX — State health officials are seeking federal help for 14 Arizona hospitals as they attempt to deal with the pandemic.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has been asked to provide staff who can administer monoclonal antibodies at seven of those hospitals, all in the state’s two largest counties, Maricopa and Pima. Those antibodies are a treatment for individuals who already contracted the COVID-19 virus.
There also are what the agency calls “open requests” for staffing in emergency rooms and nursing support at Yuma Regional Medical Center and Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista.
The Arizona Department of Health Services says it also has asked for aid for hospitals in Kingman, Bullhead City, Bisbee, Douglas and Willcox.
All totaled, state health officials say the seven rural hospitals are seeking 133 staffers to deal with the situation.
The requests come as hospitals across the state continue to struggle with the crush of new COVID cases even as bed space and staffing cannot keep up.
On Tuesday, Dr. Marjorie Bessel of Banner Health said the trends could put that hospital chain, the largest in the state, in a position “where we will be unable to meet the care needs of all Arizonans.”
Documents obtained by Capitol Media Services show the state health department is asking FEMA to give top priority to hospitals in Mohave County, including Kingman Regional Medical Center, which reported 41% of its patients have COVID and says it immediately needs additional registered nurses and respiratory therapists.
“KRMC is worried that we may have to close beds in the near future if this surge continues as expected,” the FEMA application states.
The same application details problems up the road at Western Arizona Regional Medical Center in Bullhead City.
State health officials are giving second priority to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where officials say they need temporary help in the form of 20 nurses who can staff the intensive-care unit due to a “surge” of COVID patients.
The four hospitals in Cochise County — Bisbee, Douglas, Sierra Vista and Willcox — are listed as third priority.
Those requests are separate from the bids by several hospitals to get trained personnel to administer monoclonal antibodies.
In Tucson, those include Banner-University Medical Center and Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Help is being sought in Maricopa County by Banner Estrella Medical Center and Banner Health Center Plus in Glendale, as well as by Valleywide Health Medical Center, Dignity Health’s Arizona General Hospital, and the central campus of Abrazo Community Health Network.
There is evidence that monoclonal antibodies, which can decrease the level of virus in a patient’s blood, can reduce or potentially eliminate the need for hospitalizations.
The state health department reported Wednesday that of the 1,752 intensive-care beds at Arizona hospitals, only 88 are available in the state.
The state also reported another 81 new deaths from COVID, bringing the statewide total during the pandemic to 23,324. There also were 3,249 new cases reported.
The requests for staffing help are part of the effort by FEMA and the federal Department of Health and Human Services “to address unmet need in communities and hospitals nationwide,” said FEMA spokesman Robert Barker.
“We continue to work with our state and local partners to support their requests,” he said.
But Barker noted that FEMA has more than Arizona to consider.
“Resource requests are up in a number of states at this time, with a lot of moving parts at the local, state and federal levels,” he said. “Nevertheless, we anticipate fulfilling the requests by the end of the month.”
Steve Elliott, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said said the requests originate with each hospital and are funneled through local health departments which, in turn, route them through ADHS. Those requests then are submitted to FEMA and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, part of the federal health department, “to see if resources are available.”
At that point, Elliott said, the federal agencies have a “virtual hospital assessment” with the facilities making the requests “to discuss and prioritize fulfillment if possible.”
