Another big drop in the number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System today. 16 people with the active virus are being treated, down from 23 Friday. Of those patients, five are in the ICU, down from ten Friday. Two of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, the same as Friday. 32 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, same as Friday. That’s a total of 48 patients, down from 55 Friday and 70 early last week. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 14 COVID-19 inpatients, up from 13 Friday, with eight of those active patients and six in the recovery phase.
Doctors noted they have not seen numbers this low since last summer, and credit better behavior for the decline.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Dr. James Stowe, Director of Aging and Adult Services with Mid-America Regional Council and Jana Jackson, Call Center Manager here at the health system, explain how folks who lack computer skills or equipment can get in line to get the vaccine.
Dr. Stowe says it’s the job of his organization to help keep older people in their homes and out of nursing care as long as possible. He says during the pandemic, the focus has changed to helping those people stay isolated and safe while providing home delivered meals, transportation to appointments and other services. Those important services include helping those without internet access or computer skills register to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He discussed mass vaccine events in the works for older people and said MARC is also checking with all of the people they serve to see if they are homebound, and are working on ways for them to receive the vaccination in their homes. He says his organization has found so far most older adults are eager to be vaccinated.
Jana Jackson explained how her team at the health system works every day calling patients 65 and over to schedule their vaccinations, and to help them overcome any technical obstacles. She recounted the story of an 87- year-old man who learned so much from their help and gained so much confidence in self-scheduling that he talked about getting his own Twitter account. She says the staff takes as much time as needed to help the patients through the process. So far, they’ve made about 2100 calls, averaging about 100 a day. She says at any given time they have ten people in the call center reaching out to patients. The number to call if you have questions or need help scheduling is 913-588-1227.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, is happy with the lower numbers, but cautions it will be challenging with the warmer weather as people are outside more. He says there is still concern about a surge in April and May, especially with bars and restaurants staying open longer. The hope is with more and more people getting vaccinated and everyone keeping up the mask wearing we’ll start to get back to normal by summer, and maybe even have college students, many who spent the year in virtual classes, return to classrooms for the fall.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health system, says we have learned many lessons since the pandemic began which will lead to better public health policies and practices at both the Federal and State levels. He says if we treat each other with compassion and grace, we can control the spread of the greatest plague the world has seen in more than a century. If we take care of each other, we can all win. He believes faith, hope and science are an unbeatable combination.
Monday, March 2 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman is back to update the vaccine rollout in Kansas and Dr. Kevin Ault will join us to discuss the Johnson & Johnson vaccine vote by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
The meeting is available by Zoom, both video and by phone. To join the Zoom Meeting by video, click https://kumc-ois.zoom.us/j/7828978628
Telephone dial-in Participants: For those without Zoom, call 1-312-626-6799, meeting ID: 782 897 8628.
The feed is also available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health and is being made available to all.
Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
