A March 20 Kaiser Health News report indicates a limited number of Intensive Care Unit beds are available in northern Wisconsin and the U.P.
The report says more than half of counties in the nation have no hospital ICU beds. A map shows counties with no hospitals, counties with hospitals but no ICU beds, and counties that do have ICU beds.
According to the Kaiser report, Oneida has the most beds at 20. Vilas has 10, Price and Langlade counties have 4, while Forest, Iron and Lincoln counties have zero.
In the Upper Peninsula, Gogebic county has 4 ICU beds and Iron County, Michigan has 3.
Intensive care units have machines to monitor a patient’s heart rate and ventilators to help them breathe.
The report says nearly 7 million seniors nationally are in places with limited or no ICU beds.
We have a link to the Kaiser Health News webpage here.
