Butler Health System concerned over rising COVID-19 hospitalizations

BUTLER, Pa. — As COVID-19 cases are rising in our area it’s now causing a strain on the Butler Health System.

This is an increase of 10 compared to last Thursday. The hospital also reported one death to the state on Saturday.

That’s the most patients that BMH has been treating for the coronavirus since January.

Hospital leaders told us 25 employees tested positive for COVID-19 and an unknown number are quarantined.

This is out of about 3,000 employees.

Now other staff members are working overtime and picking up extra hours to make sure every shift is covered.

Karen Allen, Butler Health System chief nursing officer said, “We are offering incentive pay so people are incentivized to work extra, go above and beyond the time and a half they usually get.”

Meanwhile the hospital is also seeing a spike in cases. At last check it has 32 COVID-19 patients. But the staffing problem is not impacting patient care. However, many other area hospitals are facing COVID-19 challenges as well.

Allen said, “I saw emails popping up from the other chief nursing officers across the region so Butler is not alone: the ERs are busy, there’s a lot of patients in all the hospitals across the city.”

The chief nursing officer says they’ve been seeing more and more COVID-19 patients over the past few weeks and expect cases to go up as they’ve also seen more people getting tested for the virus. She really emphasized the importance of wearing masks, social distancing and getting the vaccine, as the delta variant spreads. She says it can really help prevent more people from getting sick.

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