Why Many Patients Are Stuck In Hospitals Waiting For Long-Term Care Beds
Since she fell and injured her arm in May, 77-year-old Park Chevalier hasn’t been able to live on her own as she once did in downtown Kona.
She needs to move into a long-term care facility due to complications from the fall, according to her family, but no beds are available.
Like so many other patients in the state, Chevalier is stuck in a kind of limbo. She’s been in the hospital for months, not because she needs treatment, but because there’s nowhere else she can go.
One in 10 hospital beds in Hawaii is occupied by a patient who can’t be discharged because there isn’t space for them at a post-acute care facility, such as an assisted living center or nursing home. That’s according to the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, a trade group that represents hospitals and other health care facilities in the islands.
Read the full story from Civil Beat here.
