Unit closed, ICU beds full: here’s why Houston County hospitals are limiting new patients

Houston Healthcare is currently limiting incoming ambulance traffic at both of its hospitals due to staffing shortages.

As of Wednesday morning, Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins is unable to accept new ambulance traffic in its medical division and Perry Hospital is not accepting new ambulance traffic for the ICU.

Kevin Rowley, vice president of marketing and business development at Houston Healthcare, said staffing shortages have led the hospitals to limit available inpatient beds.

A 30-bed medical unit at Houston Medical Center is currently closed due to the limited staffing.

“We currently have a number of unfilled positions available,” Rowley said. “We continue to recruit aggressively and look to reopen the unit once we have hired and trained more staff.”

Rowley also said Tuesday that all ICU beds at Perry Hospital are full.

According to the Georgia Coordinating Center, both Houston Medical Center and Perry Hospital are rated as “busy” for their NEDOCS (National Emergency Department Overcrowding Score).

“As patients are discharged to home or other facilities, the bed availability will ease and our status will be updated,” Rowley said. “This opening and closing can happen several times over the course of a day. Unfortunately, most hospitals experience the same issues on a daily basis.”