Borgess, Pine Rest seek emergency state approval to add hospital beds

Borgess, Pine Rest seek emergency state approval to add hospital beds

KALAMAZOO — Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo asked for emergency approval Wednesday to add 105 beds in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Eleven of the beds cited in the Ascension Borgess filing to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services are for intensive care, and 44 beds at the Stryker Center are for non-ICU COVID-19 inpatients. Another 50 beds will go in at the Lawrence Education Center new used for medical education, according to the filing.

The Ascension Borgess filing is the latest from hospitals in West Michigan and across the state to add capacity to handle COVID-19 patients, as MiBiz reported Tuesday.

Bronson Healthcare in Kalamazoo has not sought emergency approval from the state for additional temporary hospital beds, although there is “lots of planning underway” internally for a surge in patients expected in May, according to a spokesperson.

In Grand Rapids, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services on Tuesday sought emergency approval from the state to temporarily add 40 psychiatrics beds at its 68th Street campus. The additional beds would accommodate “hospital partners who are wishing to transfer psychiatric patients to (Pine Rest) during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis,” freeing up acute care beds at the hospitals, according to Pine Rest’s fling to the state.

The Department of Health and Human Services has been approving the emergency requests within days of their filing.

Spectrum Health last week received approval for 250 temporary beds at the Grand Valley State University Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences across Michigan Street from the Butterworth Hospital campus.

In Berrien County, Spectrum Health Lakeland received state approval Monday to add 45 beds at its 215-bed St. Joseph hospital to expand capacity to 260 beds. Spectrum Health Lakeland said in the filing that it would add the beds “as necessary, in surgical prep/recovery, operating, post-anesthesia care unit, and endoscopy rooms.”

Mercy Health Saint Mary’s has proposed adding 200 beds. Mercy Health requested an additional 176 beds at Saint Mary’s hospital on Jefferson Avenue in Grand Rapids, and 24 beds at its 64th Street Ambulatory Surgery Center in southwestern Kent County.

Mercy Health Muskegon secured approval last week to add 72 beds at its hospital campus on Sherman Boulevard, which includes a 267-bed new inpatient tower that opened a year ago.

As of Wednesday, Michigan had 9,334 reported COVID-19 cases, an increase of 1,719 from the day before. There have been 337 deaths in Michigan from COVID-19, up by 78 a day earlier.