GRANTS, N.M. — The Cibola General Hospital has four beds for patients requiring intensive care treatment.
“Our current census averages 8-10 patients daily and the four ICU beds have remained consistently occupied,” said Cynthia Tena, CGH marketing director who emphasized that the numbers “can change constantly.”
Patients whose clinical presentation warrants in-patient clinical management for supportive medical care should be admitted to the hospital under appropriate isolation precautions said Tena. She stressed that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that not all patients with COVID-19 require hospital admission.
The New Mexico Department of Health reported 74 percent of general beds at hospitals in the state were occupied, and 69 percent of ICU beds hospitals statewide were filled as of Nov. 1. This includes patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and other illnesses, according to NMDOH.
Cibola County reported 658 positive cases along with four at Western New Mexico Correctional Facility, Grants, one at Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center, Grants, and 348 at Cibola County Correctional Center, Milan. Positive tests at correctional facilities include inmates and these numbers are reported separately from the county totals, according to County Emergency Manager Dustin Middleton.
The local hospital’s staffing has been affected by the nationwide demand for healthcare pro fessionals during the pandemic. The two co-chief nursing officers, Maria Atencio and Glenna Losito, reported at the Oct. 26 CGH board meeting on the number of contract nurses employed: two in the Emergency Department, two in the Medical and Surgical Department, and one in the ICU Department. The hospital maintains sufficient supplies to care for patients diagnosed with COVID and remains prepared if there is an influx of people needing hospitalization. The hospital in Grants, which is the seat of county government, partners with other healthcare facilities. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has put in place a plan where hospitals have a hub hospital to send patients to when needed, explained Tena.
“We also keep a close contact with the Milan [Cibola County Correctional] facility and all other businesses in town to serve our community,” she said and pointed out that facilities that house individual prisoners provide security staffing during the time an individual inmate is hospitalized at CGH.
The 25-bed critical access hospital was established in 1959. The facility offers general surgery, 24-hour emergency care, intensive care nursing, internal medicine, obstetrics, pathology, pediatric dentistry, podiatry, primary care, and radiology services onsite, according to cibolahospital.com
Call 505-287-5208 or visit cibolahospital.corn for additional information.