CLEVELAND — “Help.”
That was the big message featured in a full page joint statement from Northeast Ohio hospitals in Sunday’s edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The message from Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, MetroHealth, Summa Health, Cleveland VA Medical Center and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center comes as COVID cases surge throughout the country as both the delta and omicron variants continue spreading.
Their plea for help continued with this request:
We need your help. We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before. And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated.
This is preventable. The best way to avoid serious illness is the vaccine. So, get vaccinated and get your booster. And keep taking all of the standard precautions like social distancing, washing your hands, and of course, mask up – even if you’re vaccinated. If you do feel sick, get tested for COVID-19 at your local pharmacy, urgent care or physician’s office. Not the Er. Then please encourage neighbors, friends and family to take all these steps, too.
We need you to care as much as we do.
MetroHealth also shared the same message on Facebook during the weekend in partnership with the other hospital systems.
The consortium of Northeast Ohio hospitals also put together the below video.
Last week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced orders to send 1,050 members of the National Guard to assist hospitals throughout Ohio amid COVID-related staffing issues.
"In addition to that, we are now working with an Ohio health care staffing company to help our hospitals meet their staffing needs," Gov. DeWine said. "This will allow for Ohio hospitals to bring in qualified nurses and other medical personnel from out of state to fill needed positions and help ease some of the pressure on hospitals and their staff over the critical holiday period. While the staff will be concentrated in the places where they’re most needed, the entire state will feel relief. As the arrangement supports the coordination of patient care that has been happening really since the beginning of this pandemic.”