(WWJ) The state has launched an investigation at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit after reports of bodies being piled up in rooms amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photos from the hospital were shown throughout the nation, after CNN said it acquired the images from an emergency room worker.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called it an incredibly sad situation.
"We are, LARA (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) is investigating," Whitmer said, at a news conference Friday. "We want to make sure that we've got the facts, and that is in process."
The governor said along with getting protection equipment for first responders the state is also trying to coordinate "cold storage" for people who have died to make sure the bodies are handled in a respectful manner.
Sinai-Grace is the same hospital that a Detroit firefighter alleges lost his mother's body after she died of COVID-19. "Long story short, they didn't tell us what happened, how it happened and where they found her, but they did locate her, and they got her in the proper hands of the funeral home," Alfonzo May told WWJ Newsradio 950's Vickie Thomas. (More on that story).
Asked by WWJ about the alleged situation at Sinai Grace last week, the Detroit Medical Center released the following statement: “Our top priority is the safety of our patients and our staff. Out of respect for the privacy of patients and their family members, we don’t provide any details regarding the care of any particular patient. Like many hospital systems, the demand to care for the ever-increasing number of patients is putting a strain on staff resources, especially in nursing. The DMC is using a variety of resources to help to supplement nursing staff including contracting with staffing agencies to secure more nurses and reaching out to colleges and universities to recruit nursing students who are close to graduation to assist in providing care to our patients, in accordance with state guidance. Sinai-Grace Hospital sees more EMS traffic than any other hospital in metro Detroit and is the only hospital in Northwest Detroit. Among the patient population served by Sinai-Grace, there are extremely high rates of underlying medical conditions such hypertension and diabetes, which puts people at higher risk for COVID-19. In addition, there are a large number of nursing homes in the area surrounding the hospital. The spread of respiratory illness and COVID-19 among that population places even more pressure on hospital resources as those patients are sicker and in many cases require ICU level of care. Due to capacity issues at funeral homes and morgues outside of the DMC due to COVID-19, the release of the deceased has been slowed. Accordingly, like other hospitals have done, we have secured additional resources to help us temporarily manage the issue. Sinai-Grace has four mobile refrigeration units Sinai-Grace secured to help temporarily manage the capacity issue caused by COVID-19. Patients who pass away at our hospital are treated with respect and dignity, and remain on-site until they can be appropriately released. We are working with the state for a more centralized solution to this issue.”
The City of Detroit has been particularly hard-hit by the virus. Looking at the latest counts from the state health department, Detroit (counted separately from the rest of Wayne County) now has 7,414 cases and 582 deaths.