Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation by the numbers:
- Eight: the number of YKHC Higher Acuity Beds. YKHC is not licensed to provide Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds. Higher Acuity Beds are located in a separate section of the in-patient unit and staffed by some of YKHC's more experienced health care providers.
- Forty-five: the number of YKHC in-patient beds, up from 26 beds at the beginning of March.
- Five: the number of YKHC ventilators.
- Over 30: the number of people YKHC has tested in the region for COVID-19 as of March 30. All the tests have come back negative.
- Four thousand: the number of masks made ofsterilization material that YKHC is aiming to produce, in collaboration with the community, to send to respiratory patients at YKHC village clinics. The material does not filter viruses and is not a substitution for N-95 masks.
Also, while blood banks across the country are reporting declines in blood donations as more people social distance, YKHC Spokesperson Mitchell Forbes says that the health corporation currently has a sufficient amount of blood and does not have the equipment or authorization to conduct a blood drive.
If you are experiencing respiratory illness symptoms, including fever, coughing, and shortness of breath, please call your village clinic or the Bethel hospital at 907-543-6949.
Correction: YKHC has eight Higher Acuity Beds, not Intensive Care Unit beds. The facility is not licensed to provide ICU beds.