Eau Claire, Wis.-based Marshfield Medical Center has seen a 47% increase in emergency department patients and a 160% increase in births and deliveries in the last month after two local hospitals shut down, Wisconsin Public Radio reported May 20.
In March, Hospital Sisters Health System permanently closed its hospitals in Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire, leaving the cities with only two options for emergency medical care: Marshfield and Mayo Clinic Health System. A Mayo Clinic spokesperson told the news outlet its Eau Claire hospital has been seeing more patients but declined to give specific data.
Marshfield Clinic West Vice President of Medical Affairs Brandon Parkhurst, MD, told the radio station that the increase in patients is "very similar to what we experienced with COVID-19, just a slightly different circumstance."
To meet demand, the hospital is expanding its emergency capacity by adding urgent care rooms and changing its triage processes.
In February, the clinic announced it would more than double the number of labor and delivery beds. On May 1, Marshfield officials paused deliveries at its Rice Lake hospital due to anesthesia shortages, an hour from Eau Claire, and diverted those patients to Eau Claire. Dr. Parkhurst said they project to see 122 births in May and 140 in June, compared to its average of 35 births per month last year.