Physician says PeaceHealth hasn't done enough to be ready for pandemic

By Pat Grubb

An emergency department (ED) physician at St. Joseph has leveled accusations against the hospital, saying it has not taken the steps necessary to prepare for Covid-19 patients and to protect the staff helping them. Dr. Ming Lin accused the hospital about its lack of preparedness in a post to a Facebook medical group. Lin stated, “PeaceHealth is so far behind when it comes to protecting patients and the community but even worse when it comes to protecting the staff.”

He questioned why the hospital hadn’t set up an outside triage reception to check for patients at risk for coronavirus and wanted to know why physicians had to call another doctor “to get his blessing” on ordering coronavirus testing. He also wanted to know why doctors couldn’t send nasal samples to the University of Washington to get faster turnaround than the testing labs they were currently using. He also pointed out that temperatures and risk questionnaires should be given to all incoming patients and staff who enter the ED and hospital. “Our ED is busier and riskier than most airports, we are as likely to get it from one another as from our patients.”

He prefaced his comments by saying “Hopefully I still have a job afterwards.” The story was first covered by The Seattle Times. The Times reported that PeaceHealth responded to Lin’s accusations by stating” the hospital’s current practices meet industry standards.”

Deb Shields, a physician’s assistant who works at the Point Roberts clinic said that Skagit Hospital had “done an excellent job setting up” and that PeaceHealth doesn’t seem to have this "as self-contained as Skagit.” Shields spoke during a tele-conference to discuss the border closure held Friday afternoon by fire chief Chris Carleton.