Aspirus CEO outlines system status, response

The leader of the Aspirus hospital and clinic system had an unusually blunt assessment of the COVID- 19 pandemic’s status in its service area Nov. 18 when the health system presented a status report.

“It’s going to pop again” and the state can’t take another pop, Matt Heywood, system corporate executive officer (CEO) and president, said of COVID-19’s rate of infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

COVID-19’s impact is felt across Aspirus’ service area with 600,00 people in 17 Wisconsin counties, including clinics in Birnamwood and Wittenberg and the Upper Peninsula, Heywood explained.

He agreed with Dr. Ryan Westergard, chief medical officer in charge of the state’s response, that the tipping point on hospital capacity for Aspirus and the state is close or has been reached, “and eventually you won’t be able to transfer (patients) as readily amongst each other.”

However, in the presentation streamed from Wausau, Heywood also expressed concern for Aspirus staff and its ability to continue to deliver patient services.

“This is taxing. This is tough, day after day, month after month. Then you’ve got me telling (staff) it’s going to be another three or four months,” he said.

“It’s been more mentally taxing than anything. You have to be ‘on’ and aware and alert in a way you haven’t been before,” said Jason Carew, a lab technician who works in Antigo and Birnamwood. He added that healthcare workers have to treat everyone as if they had COVID-19.

While he does his best to accommodate patients and their needs, he also protects himself like insisting on mask wearing. He said it continues to feel weird in donning all of the protective gear especially when he goes into the COVID-19 unit at the hospital. “It’s surreal,” he said.

Heidi Zalewski, a fellow Birnamwood Clinic employee, agreed that she never thought she’d live through anything like this. “This is getting to be the ‘new normal,’” she said.

“It’s been challenging on some days,” Michelle Rickert, another clinic employee, said, I just take it one day at a time.”

Rickert and Zalewski are taking Aspirus’ advice to do the things they love as a way to unwind after work. Zalewski chooses photography while Rickert walks and is looking forward to snowshoeing this winter.

Ashley Bohman, regional communication and engagement lead for the Medford and Antigo hospitals said the system offers remote yoga classes and self-help instruction to employees. Aspirus also encourages its leaders to bring treats and otherwise show appreciation.

“I just keep waiting for the movie to end,” Zalewski said.

“And we hope it’s a happy ending,” she, Rickert and Bohman chimed in.

Regardless of the number of employees added to meet the rising demand, “Our staff lives in the community they serve,” the CEO said. That means staff go home to Wausau and the surrounding area that are among the top eight areas in the country for COVID-19 cases per 100,000.

Heywood said about 300 of Aspirus’ 9,000 employees had been involved in the system’s program of detection, testing and quarantining.

Heywood said Aspirus is also responding to the anticipated surge through greater use of technology and alternative interventions and treatments.

Staff are also being asked to take on new roles, Heywood said, such as home health services. Aspirus may also call on family and friends to provide care “so we can keep our beds available for the sickest of the sick.” That includes the usual level of accidents, heart attacks and strokes.

Aspirus averaged 30 COVID-19 patients during the summer and now averages 130 patients, occupying about 25% of its 500 beds, Heywood said.

He said Aspirus may experience a doubling of COVID-19 cases to about 250 patients per day in the Aspirus system alone and said similar caseloads will be seen throughout the state and throughout the country. Before the pandemic, the census for the entire system was 300 to 350 occupied beds, Heywood said. The system added staff and other preparation to get to the current 500-bed capacity.

Aspirus admits and discharges 50-80 people per day including non-COVID-19 cases, Heywood said but the system fills right back up.

The spike in cases will mean additional burdens on staff and resources because those patients will all have the same needs, Heywood added.

COVID-19 patients also require a higher level of care and attention and a potential rise of 250 patients is not easily added, Heywood said.

This coming winter will also be different than the summer when spikes confined to Texas or California allowed for other states and systems to provide personnel and resources, Heywood continued, “So this will be a broader challenge that our country experiences.”