Just like for many hospitals, it has already been five minutes to midnight for the Franciscus Gasthuis and Vlietland in Rotterdam and Schiedam during this second wave of the corona crisis. Director Marjolein Tasche spent a day in the ICU to get a good feel for what the crisis in her hospital looks like. “I thought, wow, hats off.”
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Tasche uses the word impressive to succinctly describe her experience. “You see how hard the work is and you experience the enormous commitment of the employees. And I noticed that the corona patients are really very ill. They need a lot of care.”
On Radio Rijnmond, the director tells how her hospital is currently doing. Currently, up to ninety corona patients can go to the protected cohort units. They are also full the last days.
“Things got really tight last Friday when we reached peak. Patients had to be transferred and we took care of one person on an IC emergency bed.”
When Tasche looks at the daily RIVM figures, she does not see any change coming. “The numbers may be leveling off a bit, but that doesn’t mean anything. The increase in hospitals will always continue for another ten days or so.”
Scaling down regular care
The next step to provide space for more corona patients is once again to scale down regular care. The hospitals in the region are busy discussing the scenarios. The disadvantage of this option, according to Tasche, is that it is ‘unbelievably tough’ for her staff.
“The staff works fully protected all day long. Even a sip is not possible, because you can contaminate a cup.” Sickness absence at Franciscus Gasthuis and Vlietland has increased from an average of 4.5 percent to 8 percent, according to her. [aticle:200071:Ziekenhuizen willen door met reguliere zorg: ‘Hulp leger is welkom’]
According to Tasche, a situation like this cannot be sustained for long. “A change is really necessary. I hope that new measures will be introduced soon and that everyone will stick to them.”
Monday evening it was announced that the Franciscus Gasthuis in Rotterdam is one of the five hospitals in the region where an admission stop for corona patients has currently been introduced.
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