Marietta Memorial Hospital “in a crisis” due to COVID numbers

MARIETTA, Ohio (WTAP) - The tax on hospital workers is growing as Marietta Memorial Hospital deals with more COVID-19 patients.

According to a written statement by a hospital spokesperson, Marietta Memorial’s intensive care unit is at 200 percent of its intended capacity.

“We are in a crisis as the demand for healthcare services is outstripping our ability to meet it,” the statement said.

Employees are working more shifts with longer hours to meet the demand.

As of Thursday evening, the hospital had 72 positive cases with another pending investigation. Thirteen of those are in the ICU, and 13 are on ventilators.

Hospital workers are seeing younger patients dying than before, some in their 30s and 40s.

“Our communities have experienced a great deal of loss the past few weeks due to COVID-19,” the statement said. “As our [teams] console families of patients who have passed, some family members mentioned that they never expected COVID-19 to create this loss. Sadly, this loss is what it has taken for some family members to become vaccinated themselves.”

The youngest COVID patient at the hospital is 27 and the oldest is 89.

Eleven patients are vaccinated, while 62 are not. Nine of the 13 ICU patients are not vaccinated and the same is true for the ventilator patients.

“We encourage everyone to get vaccinated,” said the spokesperson. “We offer a walk-in vaccination clinic every Tuesday at Marietta Memorial Hospital suite 301 from 1 to 3 p.m.”

Copyright 2021 WTAP. All rights reserved.