hospitals

The Rawlins hospital will be ending its labor and child delivery services on June 15. This is a result of the pandemic putting the hospital in a financial crunch.

In Wyoming, the major effects of COVID-19 took hold several months after the initial discovery and rise in cases in other parts of the country. And while the state's hospitals have ebbed and flowed with patients since then, the impact and demands on the healthcare infrastructure has differed from place to place. Wyoming Public Radio's Hugh Cook reports on the situation at smaller hospitals in Johnson and Weston counties.

About 96% of people now live within an hour of life-saving stroke care, but the Mountain West has the worst access in the country. That’s according to new research from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

The nation is experiencing a blood shortage. Companies that collect blood in Wyoming are also desperate for more donors.

At one point earlier this month, Teton County had the highest COVID-19 case rate per capita in the country. Many other Western mountain towns were also at the forefront of the Omicron surge in our region, but hospitalizations and deaths have so far remained low in the resort communities. KHOL's Will Walkey reports.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the federal health care worker coronavirus vaccine mandate to go through. A lower court had put the mandate on pause in late November. Now any employee, volunteer, or contractor working at health care facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding have to be fully vaccinated or provide an exemption by Feb. 28. Leading Age and Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley told Wyoming Public Radio's Kamila Kudelska they expect to see staff shortages in hospitals and nursing homes border to border in the state.

Omicron cases are surging across the Mountain West. In several states, more than 80% of ICU beds are filled. While these COVID-19 infections tend to have milder overall symptoms for individuals, they’re still landing people in the hospital and stressing health care systems and workers.

Last week, the Supreme Court allowed the federal health care worker coronavirus vaccine mandate to go through. A lower court had put the mandate on pause in late November. Now any employee, volunteer or contractor working at health care facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding has to be fully vaccinated, be tested weekly or provide an exemption by Feb. 28.

Wyoming legislators recently punted on fixes to the state's system for an involuntary treatment called Title 25. That system allows police or mental health officials to detain someone they consider to be a danger to themselves or others, and make them undergo psychiatric treatment. For years the system has been plagued by ballooning costs, the lack of available treatment, and the proper facilities.

With hospitals in the Mountain West overrun with COVID-19 patients, states are increasingly utilizing monoclonal antibody treatment to ease a seemingly endless public health crisis — one that could worsen with the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant.