Amid a steep increase of patients seeking care, two Pittsburgh-area hospitals have set up outdoor emergency tents to handle overflow.
On Friday afternoon, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville set up an outdoor medical tent along 44th Street to expand care capability for its emergency department. Earlier this month, Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, similarly set up a tent of its own.
“The number of children coming to the emergency department at UPMC Children’s is historic,” Dr. Ray Pitetti, director of the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s, said in a statement.
“This tent is well equipped and will be staffed to help accommodate our patients,” a spokesperson from the hospital added in an email. “The added care site began operation Friday afternoon.”
The hospital started using the medical tent on Friday, but a UPMC spokesperson acknowledged that emergency room wait times fluctuate at the hospital.
“Families do not need to be concerned about the medical tent,” a UPMC spokesperson wrote in an email. “UPMC Children’s can take care of any child needing emergency care. UPMC encourages all who are eligible to get vaccinated to do so.”
Children’s has seen an increase in pediatric COVID-19 cases in recent months and also reported an uptick of respiratory virus cases like parainfluenza as face-mask wearing eases up.
According to the Allegheny Health Department, weekly COVID-19 case rates in children ages 5 to 14 are on the rise. In the past month, cases in that demographic have jumped from 100 to over 300 per 100,000.
While the strain of increased COVID-19 hospitalizations — especially among unvaccinated individuals — is being felt, nurse staffing shortages have also plagued Pennsylvania hospitals in recent months. Combined with an increase in medical visits not related to COVID-19 that were delayed during the pandemic, hospitals have been scrambling.
Christina Logan, of Pittsburgh, said she took her baby to Children’s emergency department on Sept. 13, where staff said her wait time would be up to 4½ hours. During that time, Ms. Logan said the wait increased to 7½ for incoming patients.
“We were in a hallway waiting since the ER waiting room was full,” Ms. Logan said. “There were some who came after us and sat in [the] main hospital waiting room.”
According to Ms. Logan, staff mentioned an influx of pediatric RSV patients despite it not being in season. RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms.
But viruses aren’t the only culprit. At Excela Health Frick Hospital, increases in non-COVID-19 patients seeking emergency care have created the need for an outdoor tent, according to Tom Chakurda, Excela Health’s chief marketing and communications officer.
“Our intent at Frick was to offload the strain on the emergency department, per say, and establish an area where patients with minor ailments could be triaged, treated and discharged,” Mr. Chakurda said in a phone interview.
According to Mr. Chakurda, the tent at Frick Hospital is staffed to address patients who need immediate emergency attention. He added that Frick Hospital is the only Excela location that has required an outdoor tent.
Staff writer Kellen Stepler contributed to this story.
First Published: September 20, 2021, 12:15 a.m.
Updated: September 20, 2021, 11:55 a.m.
