ICU nurse Jessica Sobczak tends to a patient with Covid-19 on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021.
Derek Gee / Buffalo News
Registered nurse Jennifer Savary, a traveler who is filling in due to the shortage of staff, manages equipment as a doctor tends to a patient in the emergency room at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk.
Hospitals across Western New York, the state and the country are facing a capacity crunch, the culmination of staffing shortages, a difficulty discharging patients and significant Covid-19 hospitalizations.
While the number of workers who lost or are losing their jobs is a small percentage of total workers, every little bit hurts amid a staffing shortage that means hospitals can't operate as many beds – especially during yet another wave of Covid-19 hospitalizations.
There are other factors pressuring local hospitals, from employee shortages to difficulties discharging patients who need to be in long-term care facilities that don't have room.
The state order limiting nonessential elective procedures at hospitals with tightening capacity resulted in a difficult situation for an Orchard Park woman trying to have spinal surgery.
Registered respiratory therapist Mario Bynum, a traveler from Arkansas who is filling in due to a shortage of staff, prepares a treatment for a patient in the emergency room at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk.
As record numbers of new cases flood the county Health Department, county case investigators are refocusing their attention on containing majo…
ICU nurse Jessica Sobczak tends to a patient with Covid-19 on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk, Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021.
Registered respiratory therapist Mario Bynum, a traveler from Arkansas who is filling in due to a shortage of staff, prepares a treatment for a patient in the emergency room at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk.
Registered nurse Jennifer Savary, a traveler who is filling in due to the shortage of staff, manages equipment as a doctor tends to a patient in the emergency room at Brooks-TLC Hospital in Dunkirk.
