LOS ANGELES – One of the myriad challenges facing Southern California’s medical system, which is overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, involves one of the most basic staples of any hospital: oxygen.
Officials are having problems getting the amount of oxygen needed by critically ill COVID-19 patients who are struggling to breathe as their inflamed lungs are being damaged or destroyed.
Problems on Sunday caused at least five hospitals in L.A. County to declare an internal disaster, which closed the facilities to all ambulance traffic — not just certain types of ambulance patients, as is more typical.
It’s not simply a shortage of oxygen itself, county and hospital officials say. There’s a shortage of canisters, which patients need to return home, and aging hospital pipes are breaking down due to the huge amounts of oxygen needed to be distributed around the hospital.
There are two problems with the distribution of oxygen at aging hospitals.
First, there are so many patients needing a high rate of oxygen that the system cannot maintain the sufficient pressure needed in the pipes.
The second is that there is such high flow through the pipes that they freeze, “and obviously, if it freezes, then you can’t have good flow of oxygen,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County health services director.
Some hospitals are forced to move patients to lower floors, because it’s easier to deliver oxygen there without needing the pressure to push it up to higher floors, Ghaly said.
Memorial Hospital of Gardena is one of the centers facing oxygen issues. Chief Executive Kevan Metcalfe said the hospital has run low on oxygen.
If it runs out, the hospital would be in “deep, deep trouble,” he said.
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