Alaska's largest hospital implements crisis care standards

Alaska's largest hospital is implementing crisis standards of care, or prioritizing resources and treatments to those patients who have the potential to benefit the most

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 patients, Alaska’s largest hospital on Tuesday implemented crisis standards of care, prioritizing resources and treatments to those patients who have the potential to benefit the most.

“While we are doing our utmost, we are no longer able to provide the standard of care to each and every patient who needs our help,” Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, chief of staff at Providence Alaska Medical Center, wrote in a letter addressed to Alaskans and distributed Tuesday.

“The acuity and number of patients now exceeds our resources and our ability to staff beds with skilled caregivers, like nurses and respiratory therapists. We have been forced within our hospital to implement crisis standards of care,” Walkinshaw wrote.

Alaska, like other places, has seen a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the highly contagious delta variant. State health officials said Tuesday there were 691 new cases and six recent deaths, all Anchorage men ranging in age from 50s to 70s. A woman in her 60s from out-of-state also recently died in Juneau, the department said.