Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center to postpone some surgeries
Sarah Bush is postponing some surgeries because of the number of COVID-19 patients it has hospitalized.
As of Monday, there were 38 patients hospitalized with the disease caused by the coronavirus, SBLHC Vice President for Operations Kim Uphoff stated.
That’s the highest number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic and it has been steadily climbing the last two weeks.
SBLHC has 93 beds for general medical and surgical use and those have been at or near 100% capacity for about a week, she said. Elective surgeries that can be postponed are being delayed, she added.
It is not known how many of the patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are Coles County residents. The hospital’s service area includes the surrounding counties so it’s likely some of those hospitalized are from other counties.
The hospital’s total number of beds is 145 but that includes those reserved for specialty services: intensive care, behavioral services and women’s and children’s services.
The hospital’s announcement came as Coles County officials reported three more deaths, and Governor Pritzker ordered three more regions of the state placed under even stricter COVID-19 restrictions starting on Wednesday.
