BOYNTON BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Bethesda Hospital West —which serves a significant portion of unincorporated Palm Beach County —has NO hospital beds available as of 6:30 Wednesday morning.
The official hospital census count, provided by the State of Florida, reveals that all 91 beds in the facility are in use. While a smaller facility, Bethesda West serves a crucial role for Palm Beach County residents who live near the 441 corridor — that includes many of the larger gated communities that continue to be under construction.
Countywide, Florida’sAgency of Healthcare Administration reports 652 people in Palm Beach County are currently hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID as of 6:30 a.m. July 15, 2020.
The complete morning ICU census count reveals the following:
Bethesda East: 16 ICU beds in use, 23 available. 1 Pediatric ICU bed in use, 2 available.
Boca Raton Regional Hospital: 25 ICU beds in use, 16 available. Pediatric beds not reported.
Delray Medical Center: 38 ICU beds in use, 20 available. Pediatric beds not reported.
West Boca Medical Center: 14 ICU beds in use, 2 available. No pediatric ICU beds in use, 5 available.
This is very misleading. Someone could interpret this to mean that the entire hospital is full of Covid patients— it is not. Not even close. Well designed hospitals (and well liked ones like Bethesda West) commonly run close to capacity as many empty rooms imply you built a hospital too big. This is why Bethesda West will be expanding as this population grows and why they just added on a 5 room state-of-the-art surgery center, more than doubling the surgical capacity of the West campus.
If the State of Florida provided COVID counts, we’d provide COVID counts. For now, Florida is providing ICU census, hospital census, and an overall COVID hospitalization count that is only broken down by county.
Understood, but then why put Covid-19 as the first 2 words in the title? That is misleading.
Because it is a COIVD-based story. Total PBC COVID bed count. And quite frankly, ICU bed count wouldn’t be an issue if not for COVID. Also so anyone skimming for COVID info will know there is info in the story.
I think it’s time for accountability. You have people scared to move near others and homebound for months because of misleading information. I believe in freedom of speech, but I also believe that anyone who reports misleading information contributing to this paralyzing fear should be held accountable by law or fines. It is the only way we will stop this and start receiving accurate information.
As a physician, I would say that what’s reassuring is that the other three (larger) hospitals in the area all have availability. Bethesda West is the smallest of the four. Yes, there are non-COVID-19 patients in this and every hospital.
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