PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland hospitals said they're facing a shortage of ICU beds for kids during a spike in RSV cases.
At Legacy, doctors said the number of pediatric ICU patients with the virus jumped about 70 percent in the last three weeks.
Dr. Wendy Hasson is the medical director for the ICU at Randall Children's hospital. Hasson said this comes during a significant shortage in nurses and respiratory therapists.
Our nurses have been working extra shifts, extra long hours, we’ve been pulling nurses from administrative roles, pulling nurses from operating rooms.
We’ve been trying to be very, very creative about where we’re pulling staff from because we want to keep all of our hospital beds open," she said.
Dr. Andrew Miller is the chief medical officer with AFC Urgent Care in Portland. Miller said his team is also adding staff and changing schedules with demand for testing on the rise.
"I can anticipate that the number of cases will definitely go up. There will be a lot of holiday exposure, a lot of family exposure and this is definitely going to get worse before it gets better," he said.
"We’re having sometimes three times daily conversations between the three children’s hospitals in Portland to see who has beds available to take care of these children," she said.