NorthShore Pleads With Public To Prevent 'Avoidable' Crisis

EVANSTON, IL — A new ad campaign from NorthShore University HealthSystem is aimed at enlisting support of the public to slow the surge in coronavirus hospitalizations.

In a 30-second public service announcement set to run on radio and TV through the holiday season, the chief medical and executive officers of the Evanston-based, five-hospital nonprofit health care delivery system urged the public to follow public health guidance.

"Right now, patients are fighting for their lives, and our teams are fighting for them," CEO J.P. Gallagher says in the PSA.

"We don't want our teams to be overwhelmed or tell you about lost loved ones," Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lakshmi Halasmayani says. "Please do your part, mask up, wash up and back up."

The pair is shown masked and socially distanced at Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview, which in recent weeks has been converted to a "COVID-only" hospital. Patients are only admitted overnight if they have the coronavirus.

Glenbrook has a total of 21 ICU beds and 152 surgical beds, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. As of Thursday, there were 115 COVID-19 inpatients at the hospital, including 20 in its intensive care unit, according to a hospital spokesperson. Evanston Hospital has an additional seven coronavirus patients, two of whom are in its ICU.

Compared to just over two weeks ago, that marks a slight increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in NorthShore's ICUs and a slight decrease in its total number of COVID-positive patients. Hospital officials continue to evaluate whether they should perform non-emergency surgeries on a case-by-case basis.

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The new public service announcement will run on several local broadcast networks at their discretion. NorthShore has also placed it into its existing rotation of digital ads and plans to promote it on social media as well. The campaign will run indefinitely or until further notice, according to a spokesperson.

In a statement announcing the ad campaign, Gallagher and Halasyamani urged the public to play a role in stopping the spread of the virus.

“We are battling a public health crisis and the only way it is going to go away is if the public modifies its behavior. With our new ad campaign, we are hoping to engage in direct conversations with our communities about the individual responsibility we all have to be part of the solution,” Gallagher said.

“Most of what we are seeing in our hospitals is avoidable," he added. "We hope these spots clearly communicate how important it is to take action to protect our families and neighbors against this virus.”

Halasyamani said NorthShore staff need residents to do play their role in controlling the spread of COVID-19.

“The only way we can beat this virus is to stop transmission – and that means taking personal accountability and abiding by public health measures outlined by healthcare experts,” Halasyamani said. “We are on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19 for our communities and we need our communities to stay home for us.”

In suburban Cook County, the seven-day rolling average number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients stood as of Wednesday at 1,557 following more than a week of declines. In Lake and McHenry counties, there were about 340 additional hospitalized patients with coronavirus.

About 20 percent of those hospitalized are expected to die of the virus, according to NorthShore. Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations have fallen from an all-time high of 6,175 on Nov. 20 to 5,653 on Tuesday — about 10 percent.

However, both in the north suburbs and statewide, the average availability of staffed surgical and ICU beds has continued to drop below the 20-percent minimum target set by Gov. J.B. Pritzker's administration.

On Thursday, the governor emphasized that hospitals do not have adequate staffing to attend to every currently vacant bed if new infections surge again. He said the only solution is to bring down the overall number of people being hospitalized.

"In the height of it, people are working double shifts, they're working all week long. We have to give these people a break at some point. And so it's a good moment, perhaps, to take staff off of some beds that aren't filled," Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday.

"I don't want to say we have a lot of beds available. I mean, we have beds, but people should not see that as some sort of invitation that we should reduce mitigations and therefore fill up all the beds because there's a vacancy somehow," he said. "I don't want people to look at it that way. It's not true."