'We're drowning': Doctor describes worsening conditions inside Oklahoma hospitals

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — The recent rapid rise in COVID-19 cases is overloading Oklahoma’s Hospital system with many now completely out of beds.

And this time around, health officials warn we don't have nearly the same amount of resources to weather the storm.

"We can't do this forever," said Stillwater Medical Center Hospitalist, Dr. Matthew Payne, "We've been through this last year... Barely. We had so many more nurses we had so much more room to expand. We can't do this again."

On the brink of a breaking point, like many hospitals across the state, Stillwater Medical Center has not one bed to spare.

"There are no other ICU beds in the state. So, we're actually trying to contact adjoining states to try to get people out that we cannot take care of here," said Dr. Payne.

But our neighboring states are struggling as well. Dr. Payne says in the last week and a half, Stillwater Medical Center lost at least two patients simply because they ran out of room and there was not a single place to send them.

"I had one that we tried calling forty different places and never could find a place. We transferred one patient out to Albuquerque by airplane," he said, "It truly is, you know, a very helpless feeling."

On Monday, INTERGRIS Health announcing its back to limiting each patient to one visitor at a time. They also say currently they have no ICU beds available anywhere in the entire system.

"We're drowning," said Dr. Payne, who is now among several health officials crying out to the state capitol for a lifeline.

"If we could get a State of Emergency that would really help. Not just to help Stillwater out, but Oklahoma hospitals as a whole," he said.

However, when FOX 25 reached out to the Governor’s office concerning the hospital’s growing calls for help. This was their only reply:

Our office has not heard anything from Stillwater Medical Center. The Oklahoma State Department of Health has created emergency rules to give hospitals flexibility so you may check with them.

"The government is not letting us do a lot of the same things we did last year because we don't have that emergency order and that's really handicapping us," said Dr. Payne," There's going to be a time when the whole system collapses simply because all the burden that we're putting on people that carry us through this. The nurses are not able to do this anymore."

The situation is only being made worse by a staggering nursing shortage. Dr. Payne says in the past year, Stillwater Medical Center lost more than 25% of its nurses.

He adds that many of them leaving recently, saying this second surge is just too much for them to bear.

"It's very similar to PTSD," he explained, "They say I simply cannot go through this emotional sacrifice again."