LA GRANDE — Hospitals statewide continue to see an increase in a trio of health-related issues — influenza, children with respiratory illnesses and adults with COVID-19. That pattern is true in Union County also, according to Grande Ronde Hospital and Clinics.

“GRH specifically is now experiencing an uptick of patients presenting with respiratory illness symptoms in our clinics, particularly in our urgent care and our emergency department,” the La Grande hospital announced in a press release Wednesday, Nov. 30.

The rise in hospitalizations this week is due to RSV, respiratory syncytial virus. Union County also is experiencing an increase in the new COVID-19 variant and influenza cases.

“GRH needs our community’s help to stop the current spread of these illnesses,” the press release said.

The hospital is urging children suffering respiratory illness symptoms to stay home and avoid gatherings.

“The majority of these RSV hospitalizations are children,” said Dr. Blake Gornowicz, medical staff president and hospitalist at Grande Ronde Hospital. “In order to ensure we do not overwhelm hospital capacity we are asking for our community’s help. There is serious concern over the severity of the current situation spreading across Oregon. We’d like to be proactive here in Union County, and there are simple things we can all do to stay healthy and keep our hospitalizations down.”

Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, said the state is facing a crisis in pediatric units.

“If you have young children and they get sick, there may not be a hospital bed for them,” Allen said in a statement.

The Oregon Capital Chronicle on Nov. 28 reported Oregon has 45 pediatric intensive care beds and as of last week only six were free, and among nearly 530 pediatric beds in the state, less than 120 were available last week.

Last month, Gov. Kate Brown declared a public health emergency as the demand for hospital beds tripled. That declaration makes it easier for hospitals to obtain volunteer medical professionals who are often retired and available to help out in emergencies.

Grande Ronde Hospital’s Chief Nursing Officer Karen Timm said practicing basic good health hygiene, asking for advice from a primary care provider and seeking medical care for severe symptoms are good strategies.

“We are here to care for you when you need us, but we prefer to keep you healthy and out of the hospital,” she said.

Timm said basic good health hygiene includes regular hand washing, avoiding touching the face with unwashed hands and sneezing or coughing into an elbow or tissue. She said some may want to consider wearing a mask again — especially in a crowded area.

The hospital announced it also is taking precautions to ensure everyone who needs access to care has it.

“In doing our part to protect our community’s access to care, the first decision we made was to initiate our Hospital Incident Command System on Nov. 15,” the release said. “This allows us to focus specifically on RSV surge planning.”

The hospital also has initiated ongoing meetings with its public health partners at the Center for Human Development, La Grande.

“Union County has shown that we can come together for the good of our entire community, just as we did throughout 2019-21 when the initial COVID-19 wave hit and again as the Delta variant surged,” the release said.

Grande Ronde Hospital is a 25-bed Critical Access Hospital. Mardi Ford, the hospital’s public information officer, said the hospital has not reached capacity, but the situation is fluid.

“We are meeting several times a day to continually monitor and assess capacity — which is one piece of the surge planning we are focused on,” she said. “We are taking it very seriously.”