Kansas City’s latest COVID spike is stretching resources at hospitals

During the pandemic, a mass exodus of employees left the medical field. Hospital leaders say they're finally starting to fill open positions with permanent workers instead of contract employees, but higher COVID cases have sent many medical workers home sick.
At Olathe Health, staff continue to rely on contract workers to fill vital roles left vacant by employees who left the field or retired amid pandemic pressures.

While they meet hospitals' urgent needs, these contract workers are expensive, and not a permanent solution. That’s why Elizabeth Long, the chief medical officer for Olathe Health, said the hospital is excited more people are eager to fill permanent roles — a critical development as the hospital deals with record-high numbers of patients.

“Certainly, I think wanting to attract the best talent that we possibly can continues to be a problem but I do feel like the curve is bending a little bit on that as far as having employed instead of contracted help,” Long said.

Across the country, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 were up 5% this past week. In Johnson and Jackson Counties, the number of hospitalizations over the past week rose 86% and 42%, respectively.