Beaufort and Jasper Co. have 32 of the 1,265 ventilators in South Carolina, state says

CORRECTION: Due to an S.C. DHEC data error, a previous version of this article inaccurately stated the number of ventilators in use at Jasper County’s Coastal Carolina Hospital. Currently, none are in use.

Beaufort and Jasper County have 32 of the 1,265 ventilators available in the state, according to data released by S.C. Department of Human and Environmental Control on Thursday.

Eight of the devices - or 25 percent of the ventilators in the two counties - are currently in use.

About 17 percent of the ventilators available statewide - or 222 - are currently being used.

The data shows none of the five ventilators at Jasper County’s Coastal Carolina Hospital near Sun City are in use. More than half, or 8 of the 13, at Hilton Head Island Hospital are in use.

All 14 ventilators at Beaufort Memorial Hospital are available.

Ventilators provide air to patients with respiratory problems.

The data release follows an announcement by S.C. DHEC Director Rick Toomey on Wednesday that the state was asking federal officials for an additional 160 ventilators from the U.S. Strategic Stockpile of Medical Supplies.

An official with the S.C. Hospital Association said Thursday there is concern the state will see a ventilator shortage, but said it is too soon to know if particular areas will need more resources than others.

As of Thursday afternoon, no one with the area hospitals or DHEC responded to questions about how many of the machines in Beaufort and Jasper Counties were being used by patients with coronavirus symptoms.

No Beaufort County hospitals have asked Beaufort County Emergency Management for additional ventilators from the stockpile, officials said.

State officials said earlier this week the virus is “accelerating” through the state with 32 of the 456 cases of COVID-19 in Beaufort and Jasper County as of Thursday afternoon.

Nine people have died from the virus in the state. There have been no fatalities in in Beaufort or Jasper County.

Hospital and mayor responses

Over the last two weeks, all three hospitals did provide specific answers to Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette questions about how many ventilators were available.

“Hilton Head Regional Healthcare leadership and clinicians regularly assess available resources,” Daisy Burroughs, Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals spokesperson said via email Wednesday. “Our hospitals have the necessary supplies and equipment to safely and appropriately care for our patients. We have been managing our inventory and adding to our supplies from both traditional and new suppliers.”

Telephone and emailed questions to Beaufort Memorial Hospital were not returned Thursday.

When told about the state ventilator data, mayors on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton said they were unaware of those numbers, either through the state or from local hospitals.

“Wow,” Hilton Head Mayor John McCann said. He made that comment about two hours before a town emergency meeting with an agenda item called, “Consideration of a Letter Asking the Hospital to Share Daily Information on Patients Being Treated for COVID-19”.

McCann said that while he isn’t a medical expert, “everybody believes we don’t have enough equipment in general”.

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka said it is well known that more medical supplies are needed across the country.

“I know our medical community will share its resources,” Sulka said. “If not, I hope that the governor mandates the sharing of resources.”

COVID-19 cases rising

DHEC said Wednesday it expected 2,600 statewide cases by April 2, and 8,053 by May 2.

The cases are cumulative since the pandemic started and could increase or decrease based on measures used to prevent the spread.

“We can change the shape or the slope of the rapid rise in cases, and actually our goal is to slow the spread to allow health care facilities time to absorb the number of cases and provide health care over a longer period of time,” State Epidemiologist Linda Bell said Thursday, The State first reported.

A Harvard University study published last week estimated Beaufort County could treat about 13,000 coronavirus patients over the next year. In the model’s “moderate” scenario, hospitals in the area will need to increase beds by threefold to treat the surge.

S.C. Hospital Association Vice President Schipp Ames said the model numbers raise concerns that the state does not have enough ventilators.

“We are trying to prepare for these potential spikes in patients,” Ames said.

It is difficult to predict which areas of the state could be hit hardest, he said.

“You can look at Camden and say that is somewhat of a rural area but now you are seeing more cases in urban areas,” Ames said.

Ames said hospitals can try to get more supplies through vendors or use “supply chain partners” to make group purchases.

This could be difficult for hospitals. The New York Times reported there will be a shortage of ventilators since there are only 160,000 of the devices available nationwide. It also reports there are 12,700 ventilators in the U.S. National Strategic Stockpile.

Ames said the stockpile was the third way hospitals could obtain additional equipment.

Last week, South Carolina’s first shipment from the stockpile contained personal protective equipment such as gloves and masks. The equipment was distributed to counties by population, health officials previously announced.

Beaufort County distributed it’s supplies to local police, fire and EMS services. Hospitals did not receive any of the items.

Hilton Head Fire Rescue was among the local agencies receiving items from the stockpile, including:

• 120 N-95 masks
• 60 gowns
• 500 surgical masks
• 96 three-quarter face shields

A second shipment to the county is expected later this week, county officials have said.

Innovation is another way to battle the ventilator shortage, Ames said.

Prisma Health has developed a new device based on the idea of a Greenville emergency room physician. The Y-shaped splitter can increase the capacity of a single ventilator from one patient to four.

No requests for more ventilators

Beaufort County Emergency Management is assessing medical needs in the county and fielding requests from the stockpile, Maj. Bob Bromage of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

He said the county hasn’t received requests for any ventilators from the stockpile.

“We rely on the medical facilities to provide us their needs,” Bromage said.

Burroughs said the hospital has processes in place to manage existing supplies and equipment. She did not provide specific information about whether the hospitals have requested additional ventilators but said the processes include “any supplement procurement we receive through the state and federal allocations”.

This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 6:49 PM.