By Mark Cowling | PinalCentral
(Editor’s note: Interviews for articles in this issue of Pinal Ways were conducted in early or mid-May, and reflect the state of the industry at that time).
In the early days of the pandemic, some experts warned that hospitals were just a week or so away from being overwhelmed — but that’s hardly been the case around here.
“What I have personally seen here in Arizona, the emergency rooms are a lot less busy than usual,” said Dr. Robert Wright, an internal medicine physician who splits his time between Florence Hospital, a Campus of Mountain Vista Medical Center, and Mountain Vista Medical Center in Mesa.
Since the shutdown from COVID-19 fears started, fewer patients have been admitted at Mountain Vista because the hospitals in general are less busy as people stayed away and elective surgeries were postponed.
“However, things in Florence are exactly the opposite.” He said he’s used to seeing two to four patients at the Florence hospital, and “I currently have seven, with possibly two more coming in today. So I feel like it’s hitting different areas at different times. Also every now and then I pick up shifts in Phoenix and that hospital, the county hospital, is very slow. There’s a lot less patients there.”
