Scripps, Sharp Seek Federal Help For South County Health Facilities

Speaker 1: 00:00 Hospitals in San Diego's border region are asking federal officials for help as they treat a higher volume of the region's COBIT patients. Leaders from Scripps health and sharp healthcare settled letter Tuesday asking for health screenings at the border and more personal protective equipment. Script's health CEO Chris van Gorder spoke with KPBS health reporter Taren mento. She started by asking what he is asking from federal officials. Speaker 2: 00:27 Oh, we're looking for more support from the federal government. Um, we're noticing, uh, certainly an uptick in patients in South County. Uh, when you compare it to the County as a whole, uh, we're also very tied on supplies. So one, we want some more support for the border crossing. Um, supply wise, we're not getting a sufficient supplies down here. We were just looking yesterday at a website that showed that Santa Clara County with a population of just shy of 2 million people have been given four point 8,000,095 mass in San Diego with a population of 3.3 million has been given 655,000. So w we know we're not, I think there's an assumption that we've flattened the curve, you know, and it's still rising, but it's flat is flat. We want it to be flat, but that doesn't mean people are still aren't going to get sick. Speaker 3: 01:17 What specifically prompted you, um, to, to send the letter? Speaker 2: 01:21 Right now we have 73, uh, patients, uh, in scripts facilities. So we're seeing probably 45% to 50% of all of our patients just in Chula Vista and sharp, sharp Chula Vista is seeing about 50% of all of their patients in Chula Vista. So we're seeing that population, uh, the number of hospitalizations continue to rise. Um, when we do lab tests, uh, we get positives around 6% to 7% countywide, but two of us that scripts, we're seeing a 17% positive rate, uh, and it's gone as high as maybe 29 and 30% positive rate. So we know something's going on in South County. Um, we know it has something to do with the border, not completely the border, but something to do with the border. And so we need action down there. Speaker 3: 02:09 One thing you mentioned, 73 patients, 73 covert patients in all of script's facilities overall. Um, that doesn't seem like a very large number. So why is 73 concerning overall and then more specifically, why is the 60 and South County even more concerning than that? Speaker 2: 02:26 Well, you're right, right now we can handle 73 patients. Um, and we're probably using a to in total at scrubs, maybe about 45 ventilators and we have about 140 ventilators. Um, but we have very tight supply of personal protective equipment. Uh, and we're now starting to reopen, uh, based upon recommendations from the governor and the County that we can start doing other procedures. When that happens, we're going to start seeing more PPE used. Uh, we're going to see more rooms filled, more ventilators used at the same time we've got this, uh, South County thing that I don't think we have completely under control yet. That's what Scott, our attention. Speaker 3: 03:02 What do you attribute to the larger volume of patients in South County too? Speaker 2: 03:07 The only thing I can tell you anecdotally, just yesterday we had nine patients in the emergency room and five admitted to having cross border, um, travel, uh, within the FA the previous week. So we do think a significant number of those patients down there were crossing the border. Uh, Mexico we know is very challenged right now with COBIT 19. Their hospitals are being filled up. Um, they're running short on supplies. Um, and I think there's a possibility that it could bubble over into San Diego. We're neighbors, we're close, we're friends. Um, and certainly we have to be ready for that. Speaker 3: 03:39 I was just alerted actually moments before speaking to you that the secretary of health and Baja California is reaching out to, uh, to sharp, I believe for assistance. Have you been contacted by the secretary of health from Baja California for assistance? Speaker 2: 03:53 No. We know anecdotally they've asked a support from the County and healthcare organizations. I know UCLA has some faculty that travels back and forth. They haven't directly reached out to us yet, but we know they're asking for support for Baja. Speaker 3: 04:07 So what help would things like the screenings at the border temperature checks and mandated quarantine really provide for you? Speaker 2: 04:17 Well, I think a couple of things are taking place. [inaudible] some of the patients have told us they're, they're positive and they've been crossing the border back and forth. Um, and when you do that, and if you're not, you know, sheltering at home wearing a mask, uh, you're potentially infecting people. Um, and we know for a fact that people can be asymptomatic, so no symptoms whatsoever and still be shedding the virus. So if we have identified somebody that either we've done a test and they're positive or they have had a test and they're positive, we ought to be insisting that they shelter at home basically, or quarantine themselves at home. If they're a Mexican citizen, they should be doing that in Mexico. If they're a us citizen, they should be doing that in their home, in the United States and waiting out that 14 day period of time where they're showing those symptoms so that they're not infecting anybody else. But, so we ought to be doing that in the same way we did. An airport when we had people coming in from infected areas, uh, we had screeners asking, Hey, what's your travel history? Checking, taking temperatures and then managing the situation that we find. I think that even though this would be a big airport terminal with 45,000 people crossing every day, it's no different than if somebody could have came in on an airplane and we ought to be screening like that. Speaker 3: 05:24 What sort of response have you received, um, from either border officials or, um, you know, from HHS, from health and human services? Speaker 2: 05:32 Well, I just got off the phone with the console, uh, you know, state department consult for Tijuana. Um, just a few minutes ago. Um, had very good conversation. Um, she's actually, um, she actually gets her healthcare here in San Diego, but has been living full time down in Mexico, uh, because she's not traveling back and forth right now. Um, and gave us a state of affairs down there and the miss that there's some real challenges down there. Um, and, um, and said that after we've briefed her, just as we're briefing you, uh, that she was going to communicating to the department of Homeland security, uh, and the state department and others about this challenge that may not be on the radar screen enough in Washington DC right now. Um, I fully anticipate we will hear back from, uh, health and human services and department of Homeland security. Speaker 2: 06:18 I'm in daily contact with representatives from customs and border protection. Um, they are in lockstep with us in terms of, uh, knowing that something needs to be done, but obviously they need to get orders from, uh, Washington D C to do that. They are concerned about their staff members, uh, who are potentially exposed when people are crossing the border back and forth. Uh, and even approached us at one point about doing, uh, uh, lab testing for all of their employees. And so I think, you know, the, the government agencies are as concerned as we are. We just need to coordinate a response and I think we can do that. Speaker 3: 06:51 Is the concern that people who are coming over or who may come over in the future are not us citizens? Speaker 2: 06:59 No, I'm not as concerned about that as is. In fact the console today admitted I've been using the 250,000 U S citizen citizens in Baja and she validated that that's probably pretty close to the accurate number. Um, and a lot of them are permanent residents and numbers that will cross back and forth with uh, you know, homes in Baja and homes in the United States. Those, that, that's a quarter of a day in people that would add for our population and if they needed care, they go to those two South Bay hospitals. Speaker 3: 07:29 The County has always said that April, this is the month that we need to really pay attention, um, to, to making sure we're doing our part to prevent any increase in the future. Is there a time in the future that your projection show continuing? The way that we are now, um, is a danger zone is, is an area of concern. Speaker 2: 07:45 Our projections are if we keep everything in place that we have now, not opening things up, we are going to continue seeing, um, either flat or slightly increasing COBIT population in our hospitals all the way through the summertime. Now, we don't know for sure what summer summer weather will do to Corvette, whether that'll slow it down like it does with influence or not. And like the CDC director said, we're concerned about the fall if we end up with covert and influenza at the very same time. So our projections do not show a flat and two to declining, uh, right now. Um, so we see this going on until we get a vaccine, a better treatments or something like that. We don't see it going away. Speaker 1: 08:26 That was script's health CEO Chris van Gorder speaking to KPBS health reporter. Taran mento.