KALAMAZOO — Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo asked for emergency approval Wednesday to add 105 beds in anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 patients.

Hospitals in the region plan to add hundreds of beds in anticipation of a surge of patients from the COVID-19 pandemic, MiBiz has learned.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s latest executive order grants hospitals and other care providers greater flexibility in how they use staff and students to treat COVID-19 patients.

Demand for the mobile computer workstations produced by Walker-based health care furniture manufacturer Altus Industries Inc. had already begun to spike as hospitals started setting up quarantine and triage areas in preparation for an influx of COVID-19 patients. 

Since the beginning of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and other health care providers have urged people with symptoms to use telemedicine first to connect with a doctor.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health has moved beds and equipment into Grand Valley State University’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences in preparation for a surge in patients from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state now asks businesses and residents to donate essential medical supplies and protective gear to hospitals and other care providers.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health and Metro Health today became the latest health systems to appeal for donation of medical supplies.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health is seeking items like face masks and hand sanitizer in light of a national shortage of personal protective equipment for hospital workers and patients due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

KALAMAZOO — Bronson Healthcare today cancelled all elective surgeries and procedures beginning Wednesday in an attempt to reduce the spread of coronavirus.