What happens when a city's hospital closes 'without warning' during a pandemic

[Judi Lynn]

Group of doctors and nurses in Kansas city of Wellington are improvising ways to battle the coming pandemic with little guidance and not much equipment

Chris McGreal in Wellington, Kansas

Tue 31 Mar 2020 06.00 EDT

The frontline in the battle against coronavirus has shifted a couple of hundred yards down the main road through the Kansas city of Wellington.

Two weeks ago, as the virus crept closer and people in other parts of the state started dying, the owners of the city’s only hospital thought it a good time to close down with just a few hours’ notice on the grounds the facility was losing money.

“We lost our hospital abruptly and without warning,” said Dr Lacie Gregory, a family practitioner in Wellington. “Even as the healthcare providers here in town, we did not hear that it was closing until it was a done deal. We received a text message from the director of nursing saying as of now there’s no hospital. So really, really unfortunate timing.”

. . .

The Republican chair of a Kansas county commission north of Wellington resisted measures to combat coronavirus on the grounds there were not many Chinese people in his area.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/what-happens-when-a-citys-hospital-closes-without-warning-during-a-pandemic

[Igel]

1. Doesn't sound quite so "bad greedy people closed hospital."

http://www.kake.com/story/41894883/wellington-hospital-managers-blame-doctors-for-hospital-closing-doctors-disagree

Admin says they were losing money, no patients for the previous 3-4 weeks were admitted. That's a bad thing, since hospitals do have to pay their staff. And maybe even bills for things like utilities and supplies.

Nothing the doctors say disputes that.

The doctors say that they just didn't send anybody to that hospital because their patients needed treatment that hospital didn't provide. They're basically saying that the admin was right--no patients. And they added that the hospital didn't have much depth of expertise or was only good at a very small numbers of things. Perhaps it lacked some big-ticket equipment necessary for diagnosis and treatment. That's pretty much the only inference I get without saying the doctors were lying.

And apart from stereotypes I don't see a reason for the local rag to say either side is lying.

Timing sucks. But if the hospital lacks essential equipment, it's not probably equipped with a serious number of ICU beds. Get funding and use it for triage, quarantine, or as a light-duty clinic. If nothing else, it'll help make the remaining hospitals and clinics in the area more viable (or maybe, if it really got no admits for almost a month, nobody'll notice when the present crisis passes.)

[stopdiggin]

3. sounds like a sad (but everyday) occurance

Rural healthcare is in a deplorable state. Rural hospitals are struggling ,, and (without subsidization or other help) closing. This is not news to anyone that is following the issue. And it is not recent. These are just that facts on the ground as they exist today in much of rural America.

Could this have been handled better (or with a bit more diplomacy)? Most likely. Did it happen at a particularly unfortunate time? Without a doubt. Was the writing there on the wall for all to see over some period of time? You can be certain of it.

Wellington < 10 thousand
Wichita (30-35 minutes north on I-35) > 400,000
guess where the doctors were sending their patients .. (and the patients were requesting to go)

[keithbvadu2]

2. "resisted... on the grounds there were not many Chinese people in his area. "

"resisted measures to combat coronavirus on the grounds there were not many Chinese people in his area. "

His name is Rodriguez.

Sounds like an ethnic name his own party would denigrate.

After all, he shows how accepting the GOP is about 'others'.