Emergency Department Boarding Stories

"We see 50-90 patients a day and currently have very limited capabilities at our hospital and have to transfer a majority of our patients to other facilities. Oregon has a Mental health crisis and homeless crisis that has been worsened by new drug enforcement policies. Our small ER is often boarding two to three mental health patients and two to three patients pending transfer. This causes a severe backup when half of our rooms are holding borders. Often we have nowhere to place an acute stroke or cardiac patient. Adult protective services dropped off an elderly lady with no medical complaints because they didn't have anywhere to take her, she was in our ER for over a week. The ER should not be a social safety net, we need facilities to place behavioral health patients, and we need drug and alcohol rehab centers, but I am glad to see the current administration in the White House is working on hidden credit card fees."