The Colorado wildfire that destroyed more than 1,000 homes last month has forced the temporary closure of a hospital and upended the lives of health care workers as the state鈥檚 already strained health care system braces for another surge in covid-19 hospitalizations.
in Louisville, a community outside Boulder that was devastated in the wildfire that erupted Dec. 30, has been closed due to smoke damage and officials have not announced when it might reopen. In addition, at least 36 people who work in hospitals in the region lost their homes, while others sustained smoke damage to their homes that may prevent them from returning home.
The temporary loss of a single 114-bed hospital out of more than 25 hospitals in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area might not normally be cause for concern. But it comes at a time when the state鈥檚 health care system is near capacity, health workers are stressed by the nearly two-year-old pandemic, and hospitalizations are rising as the omicron variant drives a new spike in covid cases.
鈥淲e have been stretched in our capacity for months now,鈥 said Cara Welch, a spokesperson for the Colorado Hospital Association. 鈥淲e have been mostly over 90% capacity for ICU and acute care beds. So, any loss of bed availability is challenging.鈥
On Jan. 7, covid hospitalizations were up 37% compared with a recent low on Dec. 25 of 1,055 hospitalizations. About were full as of Jan. 7. Hospital bed capacity reflects not just the physical beds, but also the health care staff needed to support those patients. State health officials say Colorado likely won鈥檛 see the peak of the omicron surge for a couple of weeks, and it鈥檚 difficult to predict how many hospitalizations may result.
鈥淲hile bed availability statewide and across all hospital systems remains at a level that is concerning, the state is closely monitoring the impact of the Marshall Fire,鈥 Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson said in an email.
The highly transmissible variant has resulted in a huge spike of cases in the U.S. and Colorado, but hospitalizations have not risen proportionately. Still, the sheer number of new cases translates to a significant rise in hospitalizations. The number of hospitalized covid patients in the U.S. is up more than 50% in the past two weeks, according to .
鈥淎 small percentage of a large number of people is still a large number of people,鈥 said , an epidemiologist at the .
The Marshall Fire and , 378 in the nearby community of Superior and 156 in unincorporated parts of Boulder County. were destroyed, and an additional 30 businesses and 149 homes were damaged.
For a time on Dec. 30, Avista Adventist Hospital workers feared the worst. Wind gusts topping 100 mph drove the winter blaze directly toward the community hospital owned by Centura Health, the flames moving fast and hot embers igniting homes and businesses in surrounding neighborhoods.
Hospital workers used water buckets and hoses to beat back flames that came within yards of igniting flammable liquid-oxygen tanks outside the building. Inside, doctors and nurses moved 51 patients to safety before ambulances drove them to nearby hospitals or they were discharged.
鈥淭he fire was raging and moving along so quickly. The fact that we are here is nothing short of a miracle,鈥 said president and CEO in recounting the two-hour ordeal.
A handful of staffers working that afternoon had homes in the direct path of the fire. After making sure their families were safe, they selflessly stayed to take care of patients, said Sendros.
Reopening as quickly and safely as possible is now the top priority, he said, though he did not provide an estimate on when that might happen. The hospital had no running water. A crew of 100 people worked to repair the smoke damage and employees had been temporarily reassigned to area Centura hospitals, Sendros said.
鈥淭he sooner we can reopen, we can also help our community heal,鈥 he said.
Welch confirmed the Marshall Fire puts additional strain on a health care workforce already stretched thin. 鈥淐ommunity spread of omicron is incredibly high, so staff are getting sick and quarantining, and we have the impact of the fire on top of that. There is a lot that is driving the staffing issue right now,鈥 she said.
Minutes away from the Louisville hospital, Shelley Shields, a forensic nurse examiner at St. Anthony North Hospital, received a text at home from her boss on Dec. 30 alerting her that the threat from the blaze was growing more serious.
Shields was at her home in Louisville鈥檚 Coal Creek Ranch neighborhood with her husband and two teenagers. The smoke was thick and ashes floated in the air. They turned off the house鈥檚 furnace, put on masks and frantically collected childhood photos and other keepsakes before fleeing with their dog, cat and hamster.
鈥淲e thought we would be home the next day,鈥 said Shields. Instead, they returned on Jan. 3 to find the home destroyed.
The hospital and her husband鈥檚 employer have allowed them to take time off work and consider their next steps. She said that dealing with the fire鈥檚 aftermath only adds to the tremendous stress that she and other health care workers were under from the pandemic.
She doesn鈥檛 know when she鈥檒l go back to work, and hospital officials said she could take off as much time as she needs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable. It鈥檚 one thing after another. It鈥檚 overwhelming,鈥 Shields said.
