St. Mary's Hospital releases data on COVID-19 patients

The exterior of St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City is seen Nov. 10, 2020, from Missouri 179.
The exterior of St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City is seen Nov. 10, 2020, from Missouri 179.

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Much like Capital Region Medical Center, St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City had more COVID-19 deaths in October than in all the previous months of the pandemic.

Jessica Royston, SSM Health regional marketing and communications manager, shared the information but didn't give details.

During a news conference Thursday, CRMC President Gaspare Calvaruso said that hospital had about seven COVID-19-related deaths from March through August. He added the hospital had 17 deaths in October and 10 already in November.

Royston provided the News Tribune with data that showed St. Mary's Hospital has reached its high mark for the pandemic this week with 30 COVID-19 patients.

The hospital is also seeing more positive cases at its drive-thru COVID-19 testing site. For the week ending Nov. 8, the positivity rate was 32.7 percent.

Royston said hospital administrators are listening to staff and trying to meet their needs.

The hospital provides spiritual support and mental health resources, she said. It offers a "Care for the Caregiver" program, in which trained staff members offer support for their peers. It also recently added a quiet meditation room that staff can use to get away, gather their thoughts, rest and regain focus.

"This pandemic is unprecedented in terms of the stress that it has put on our health care workers. We have lost staff due to issues with child care or other family concerns related to COVID," Royston said.

The community needs to work to slow the spread of the virus, she said.

"Our resources are being strained and could reach a breaking point if safety measures are not followed," she said, and added wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands and limiting gatherings are important parts of keeping the hospital from being overwhelmed. "The health of this community is our top priority. We must put these measures in place so we do not overwhelm the health care system in Mid-Missouri and we can continue to provide exceptional care to our patients."

St. Mary's Hospital has resumed incident command meetings because of the alarming increase in COVID-19-positive patients, Royston said.

"We are currently consolidating our COVID units and looking at ways to increase bed availability," she said.