AMC experiencing staff shortages at Lake Placid ER

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July 2, 2008

Overnight ER hours in peril for lack of MDs, nurses

By JACOB RESNECK The Press Republican Wed Jul 02, 2008, 12:00 AM EDT

LAKE PLACID -- The Adirondack Medical Center staff shortage is so acute that contingency plans have been drawn for shutting down the Lake Placid emergency room if there aren't enough doctors and nurses to work the night shift.

Dr. John Broderick, who oversees emergency services for AMC, said that if a staff member misses a shift, there might not be a replacement available.

"We're so tight right now that any illness, accident or something (among hospital staff), we don't have really any flex in the system to afford such an unforeseen event."

OVERNIGHT CLOSURE

Under the contingency plan drawn up by AMC, the Lake Placid ER may close from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. if there isn't enough staff available.

This plan is scheduled to take effect between July 6 and Aug. 2 when the hospital doubles its staff at the Saranac Lake hospital for the busier summer season, AMC officials said.

The four-room ER in Lake Placid generally handles moderately injured people, while more serious cases are routed to Saranac Lake, about 11 miles farther to the west.

CHIEFS CONCERNED

For volunteer ambulance squads in Wilmington, Keene and Keene Valley, Lake Placid is often the closest hospital.

Wilmington Fire Chief Randy Preston said he feared shutting down the Lake Placid ER would put a strain on volunteers and patients.

"I think that's going to be harder on the townspeople should something happen that they would have to go to Saranac Lake versus Lake Placid."

Randy Le Clair, rescue chief for the Keene Fire Department -- which routed about half of its 125 rescue calls last year to Lake Placid -- said there's a lot of value in having an ER for emergencies on the western side of Keene.

"We're obligated to go to the nearest hospital in a true emergency. We cover a vast area, and if we're in the Cascade Lakes or on (Route) 73 east of Keene" the closest hospital is Lake Placid.

Le Clair said his Fire Department would likely run more calls to Elizabethtown Community Hospital.

NOTIFICATION

Broderick said that under the contingency plan, the hospital would notify county dispatchers and police before shutting down.

The hospital also plans to install emergency phones outside the ER for walk-in patients that would link them to the volunteer ambulance squad in Lake Placid.

But none of the fire departments or county emergency coordinators interviewed said they had been formally notified by the hospital that this contingency plan existed.

That included Essex County Emergency Medical Services Coordinator Patty Bashaw, who said she only learned of the plan second-hand last week at a community meeting.

The Lake Placid ER is sometimes a vital stopping point for seriously ill or injured patients en route to Saranac Lake, she said.

"It's always nice to have a hospital with definitive care a little bit closer to stabilize somebody -- or if somebody has other issues or need medications that we aren't carrying on the rigs before we ship them on to another hospital."