Muscogee Creek Nation Medical Center Struggles As COVID-19 Cases Surge

Officials from the Muscogee Creek Nation Medical Center say that the rural hospital is struggling to keep up with caseloads as COVID-19 cases surge.

According to officials, the hospital is averaging around 5 cases of COVID-19 each day, and keeping up with the growing number of patients has not been easy.

Chief nursing officer Lindy Bauer says they have a small staff of nurses in this wing and that they're careful with how the staff is being used.

"What we like to do is make sure we have one nurse taking care of COVID patients when possible and that they have a lower nurse-patient ratio," said Bauer

Along with the COVID wing, there's also an area where people are being tested for the virus. The nursing staff is getting hazard pay and the hospital says they have mental health counselors and a chaplain to help them whenever times get tough.

"There's not one nurse in this hospital who hasn't been touched personally or has known someone who has been infected and affected by COVID-19 so what we've seen is this nursing family support each other, cover for each other," said Bauer

As we get closer to an available vaccine, Bauer says the attitude has changed and there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

"I definitely felt the mood change when we started getting factual information about the vaccine, the vaccine timeline, its effectiveness," said Bauer