WINONA, Minn. – The Winona hospital has enough excess capacity, although not much, to take Covid overflow from other hospitals. It’s a balancing act, said Winona Health executive Rachelle Schultz.The staff closely tracks how many patients are being admitted and discharged each day, along with what bed capacity is available, Schultz said in a Winona Daily News interview. And because it’s not overloaded, the hospital is able to help other hospitals in tighter situations and accept nonlocal patients. Transfers are accepted cases by case, Schultz said. “We watch to make sure we always have capacity for our own community in our service area. But we also want to help out, because it’s really tight in particular areas in the state.”
Earlier: Covid resurgence squeezes hospital capacity
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Bed census
The Winna hospital has 54 beds, nine for intensive care. The hospital’s latest capacity report to the state health Department showed the hospital bed census at 38% and the intensive care census at 57%.