Michael Bundy, Chief Executive Officer for PRISMA’s Parkridge and Baptist locations, spoke on October 8 to the Optimist Club of St. Andrews-Irmo.
In his position Bundy monitors the performance at his two assigned hospitals on a daily – sometimes hourly – basis. Obviously, along with all the other medical situations that concern him, Bundy pays close attention to Covid numbers.
The facts are these: Vaccinations are the key. Of the Parkridge and Baptist Covid patients, almost 90 percent are unvaccinated. The common knowledge about demographics is borne out at those two facilities: i.e., the average age of Covid hospitalizations is for patients older than 50 years old. The most threatened patients, then, are unvaccinated people older than 50 years old. PRISMA had administered more than 440,000 vaccinations at the time Bundy spoke to the Club.
PRISMA facilities are operating at 80 percent of full hospital capacity. For comparison, 85 percent is considered a crisis situation. If there was a silver lining in Bundy’s talk, it is that in the Midlands, Covid hospitalizations are finally experiencing a downturn.
Bundy stated PRISMA’s collective goal is to improve South Carolina’s #42 rating among the 50 states.
Photo: Bundy, shown here flanked by Optimist President Mike Myers and speaker host Kerry Powers, was presented a copy of the Optimist Creed.
