MercyOne shows what it’s like caring for COVID patients, "You don’t see what’s going on in the hospital"

(ABC 6 News) – The number of COVID patients at MercyOne North Iowa is causing a strain on the system and keeping doctors and staff from providing life-saving medical care to others.

“The demoralizing thing for us is there is still a fair amount of people in the community that don’t think this is real,” says Dr. Doug Summerfield, with MercyOne’s critical care unit.

“Unfortunately for anyone on the street, you don’t see what’s going on in the hospital.”

MercyOne is showing what it’s like caring for COVID patients in it’s critical care unit. Watch the video above.

"Early on in the pandemic, the shortages in medical centers were ventilators or other medical equipment. We saw hospitals reach out to the public for help to secure enough PPE or masks health care workers wore to remain safe. Now, after more than a year, MercyOne North Iowa is seeing another surge in COVID-19 cases and the human resources it takes to care for COVID-19 patients are running short."

An unexpected part of all of these COVID cases is that it takes up resources from other procedures that have to be done," said Dr. Sam Congello, a cardiologist at MercyOne North Iowa.

"Cardiac patients who need lifesaving procedures need to be postponed because there is no place to put them in the ICU or in the hospital.”

On Wednesday, there were 38 patients positive with COVID-19 at MercyOne North Iowa.