CHI Franciscan limiting procedures temporarily at St. Michael amid COVID-19 outbreak
CHI Franciscan on Thursday announced it is temporarily limiting procedures at two of its Kitsap County campuses amid a COVID-19 outbreak.
The Tacoma-based health system said procedures would be limited in the short term to “urgent and emergent cases” at its Bremerton and Silverdale St. Michael sites, formerly known as Harrison Medical Center.
The move follows a recently reported outbreak of COVID-19 among St. Michael Medical Center staff and patients, and a subsequent shortage of staff. On Monday, health officials said at least 45 cases were reported at St. Michael in Bremerton, with the number expected to grow.
Thursday’s action was taken “to ensure our facilities maintain adequate staff capacity to serve our community, including providing care for those with COVID-19 and other urgent medical conditions,” the health system said in its update Thursday.
The health system said that all workers at St. Michael would be tested, with more than 1,000 out of 2,000 already having been tested.
“We are testing all St. Michael employees, providers, contracted staff and vendors.”
It added that more than 115 employees were in quarantine “as they wait for test results. Any employee with an illness or flu-like symptoms is asked to stay home.”
On Tuesday, union leaders and workers with UFCW 21 were critical of the health system for issues allegedly leading to the outbreak, including increasing workloads with not enough staff, lack of communication between workers and upper management, slow turnarounds of test results and inadequate personal protective equipment supplies made available to workers.
Those at Tuesday’s news conference called on the health system to improve working conditions and communication.
CHI Franciscan has said it is working with staff and public health officials and has followed CDC guidelines with its PPE, and told The News Tribune on Tuesday it was “well-provisioned” with PPE.
On Thursday the health system made public additional details regarding the outbreak and services in Silverdale and Bremerton:
▪ The birth center at Silverdale and emergency services departments at both hospitals remain open.
▪ Patients should still seek care if they are facing emergencies such as symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, or injuries such as broken bones.
▪ Patients with scheduled non-urgent procedures will be contacted to reschedule.
Additionally, “We have contacted patients and visitors with potential exposure by phone and written letter and will continue if any additional exposures are identified.”
The affected units and associated dates:
▪ 2 West (8/3/20 to 8/20/20)
▪ 3 West (8/15/20 to 8/20/20)
▪ 3 North (8/18/20 to 8/20/20)
▪ 4 West (8/18/20 to 8/20/20)
More information is online at the St. Michael Medical Center COVID-19 Community Update.
This story was originally published August 27, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
