TERREBONNE, La. — "So if you think it won't happen, it does. We are getting nervous and scared," said Phyllis Peoples, Terrebonne General Health System.
At Terrebonne General, there were no ICU beds left when hospital leaders addressed the parish council last week.
"The hospital is full. This is like no other process we've seen before," said Phyllis Peoples, Terrebonne General Health System.
The hospital has 28 beds and on Monday 20 were filled with COVID patients, leaving just 8 beds for others needing help.
"You have a heart attack, you have a stroke, you are in a car accident, you need to come into the hospital, guess what? You can hang out in the ER until we can get a place for you. How do we do get a place for you? Either we have people who get better and get discharged from the hospital or either have people who get worse, and they die. That's how the beds open up right now and that's a sad state to be in," said Dr. Ben Adams, Terrebonne General Health System.
Different from other surges, the hospital has been treating a number of young patients ranging from 20 to 50-years of age. Also children including a three-year-old, an 8-month-old a four-month-old and even a baby just 11 weeks old.
"We haven't seen anything like this before. No one has. As I talk to my colleagues in the state. It's different than the first time," said Phyllis Peoples, Terrebonne General Health System.
It's not just Terrebonne General, Ochsner said they've got 112 patients at their facilities across the bayou.
"We continue to see an escalation in cases in the bayou region. It's definitely one of the hot spots. There are definitely very significant bed capacity challenges in the region," said an Ochsner doctor.
More than 90 percent of those in critical care are unvaccinated in Lafourche parish. The parish president said they continue to add more vaccination sites to try toget a handle on the surge.
"We are trying to bring more of that to the area. Still pushing the vaccine as hard as we can, encouraging people to talk to their doctor, talk to their family and if it's right for them then go ahead and get it," said Archie Chaisson, Lafourche parish president
Back at Terrebonne General, there is another matter that is making this surge even more challenging, staffing. Recently 40 Terrebonne General employees were out after testing positive for COVID, putting an even greater strain on the hospital.