Hilo Medical Center is limiting visitors again in response to the influx of COVID-19 patients entering the hospital.
HMC is allowing one vaccinated visitor per patient per day from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. No visitors will be allowed in the emergency department.
Patients in the hospital with COVID-19 will not be allowed visitors unless they are pediatric patients 17 years or younger, or are in highly critical, end-of-life situations.
“We had to bring this back because of the sheer volume of patients coming into the emergency department with COVID,” said HMC spokeswoman Elena Cabatu. “There are so many patients who are so contagious — I mean, we have people in the hallway waiting for beds.”
During the delta variant surge, the highest number of COVID-19 patients in HMC at one time was 25, but now the hospital is averaging that almost daily.
“In the last surge, patients coming to us were much sicker, required ventilation, and stayed with us for a long time,” Cabatu said. “This one is different. They are not as sick, and they stay for a shorter amount of time, but there is a relentless amount of people coming into the emergency department every day.”
The influx of infected patients in the ER has increased wait times for non-COVID-19 patients who need treatment or are waiting to be placed in acute care beds upstairs.
“We’re stuck, so we need to come up with ways to keep up bed capacity, which we have done before,” Cabatu said. “We have a plan, and we dusted it off this week. We’re ready to implement that if the needs arise, but we’ll see what happens.”
Many COVID-19 patients with varying degrees of symptoms are seeking monoclonal antibody treatment at HMC, because it is one of the few places that provides that option of care.
While the hospital staff aren’t seeing as much death as during the prior surges, they are stretched thin and constantly working to make sure all patients receive the proper care.
HMC administrators hope that limiting visitors and visitation times will help alleviate the spread of the virus in the hospital.
Patients who are arriving at HMC for a short stay may be accompanied by one vaccinated visitor for check-in only.
One designated birthing partner will be allowed for scheduled inductions and C-sections and all other births. If the partner is not vaccinated, they must present a negative COVID test performed 72 hours before admission.
One caregiver will be allowed for clinics and other services. Visitors also are responsible for the cost of their own outpatient COVID test.
After a survey of current patients and COVID-19 numbers, Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital has decided to maintain its limit of two vaccinated visitors for patients who are not COVID-positive. Patients with COVID will not be able to have visitors.
“It’s important for patients to have that connection with family and friends, so we’ll do whatever we can to keep those loved ones safe while visiting,” said spokeswoman Lynn Scully. “Not allowing visitors to see COVID positive patients helps reduce the number of visitors we have every day.”
North Hawaii’s emergency room has also been inundated with far more patients than normal due to the contagious omicron variant.
“To make things better for those who are urgently ill, we want to remind people that they should try to find testing options outside the hospital,” Scully said. “Our emergency room is very busy, and we want to keep it open for those who need care right away.”
Across the island, Kona Community Hospital is not allowing any visitors except in three circumstances.
Labor and postpartum patients are allowed one visitor to accompany them through the birthing process, patients 17 years old and under must have a guardian, and visitors are allowed if a patient is in a highly critical, end-of-life situation.
The hospital has increased the number of tablets in each unit, so if a patient wants to connect with their families over Facetime or Skype, they have the ability to do so.
“We want families to keep in touch, but we want to keep everyone safe,” said spokeswoman Judy Donovan. “This is our response to the very contagious Omicron variant. The fewer people we can bring in, the more we can control potential exposures.”
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com