Woodbury Urgency Room Helping ERs Cope With ‘Incredible’ Demand

WOODBURY, MN — Many patients are being forced to endure long waits in emergency rooms with the coronavirus fueling a new surge in hospitalizations across Minnesota and the Twin Cities area.

Data from the Minnesota Department of Health shows more than 1,000 people across the state were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, the first time it has topped that mark in 2021, as reported by the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

More than 98 percent of beds in intensive care units in the Twin Cities metro area were full Tuesday, with just 11 adult ICU beds available, according to the state’s data. Only 1.3 percent of non-ICU beds were available in the region Tuesday.

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Dr. Rob Anderson, who works at the Urgency Room in Woodbury, said the high demand for services amid the pandemic is a major factor in the extended wait times in Minnesota emergency rooms. That problem is being compounded by an “incredible staff shortage” throughout many hospitals, he said.

Long waits for care have been a challenge since this summer and they have continued into the fall, Anderson said.

Staff at Woodbury’s Urgency Room are working to “help offload the burden” on emergency departments by providing a wide range of medical services to those seeking treatment, Rob Anderson said.

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“Emergency departments have such a huge backlog. It's just so incredibly busy,” Anderson said. “People are waiting, sometimes, hours, and that's where we step in at the Urgency Room.”

The Urgency Room has “the ability to do all the same testing” as emergency departments and its emergency physicians can determine “what’s truly emergent and what needs to be seen” immediately, Anderson said.

The clinic, which has locations in Eagan and Vadnais Heights, also offers telehealth services that many are using for coronavirus testing, Anderson said.

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Telehealth services have been “absolutely amazing” and have offered a “solution” to the problem of extended wait times by allowing providers to see high volumes of patients, Anderson said.

And “the patients love it … because they can do everything from home,” he said, adding the “great majority” of telehealth visits are for coronavirus testing.

The number of patients seeking treatment at the Urgency Room is 32 percent higher than in 2019, Anderson said.

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He encouraged those seeking medical care to “trust your gut, trust your instincts” when deciding whether to visit a local emergency department or an Urgency Room location.

“People should trust their guts,” he said. “If they think that something is absolutely dire, they absolutely should go to the emergency department; they should call 911.”

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“If they think that they're OK, but need to have acute care, unscheduled care, (they should) come in” to the Urgency Room, Anderson said.

Gov. Tim Walz is readying the National Guard to help relieve some pressure on Minnesota hospitals by training members to work in long-term-care facilities. The governor said Friday that 400 patients could be transferred out of hospitals if long-term-care beds were available, the Star Tribune reports.

Editor Morgan Reddekopp contributed to this report.