There are 20 to 40 more people a day visiting Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital’s emergency room since Delaware County Memorial Hospital closed on Nov. 4, 2022, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.

The nonprofit hospital is closest to DCMH, down the street on Lansdowne Avenue in Darby.

On average, the understaffed hospital sees 120 to 130 emergency room patients a day.

Waits can be up to seven hours, according to Sue Brusco, an emergency nurse and co-president of the Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital Nurses Association.

“They’re in the hallway, they’re in the waiting room, they’re sitting in chairs leaning against the wall,” said Heather Walter, a member of the nurses association. “There’s nowhere to put them. They’re everywhere. They’re in the consultation room.”

With nurses overwhelmed, the administration is working to entice more staff to join the hospital.

There is progress, reports Mary Wascavage, representing Mercy’s parent company, Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic.

Nurse retention rates are up, and turnover is down 50 percent from the last six months, she said.

The nurses at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital say they are in perpetual crisis mode but are “cautiously optimistic.”

See the challenges and possible solutions over heavier patient loads at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in the Daily Times.