Carpenters at Providence Health & Services are still working on a plan to convert a semitruck trailer and a shipping container into temporary morgues.
Providence Health & Services is installing mobile morgues at its two largest Portland-area hospitals.
A semitruck and trailer has been parked outside Providence Portland Medical Center. A shipping container — the corrugated metal boxes often seen on cargo ships — will be located at Providence St. Vincent. Jean Marks, a Providence spokeswoman, said carpenters and designers will retrofit both facilities into temporary morgues in coming days. It’s still unclear what the capacity of either unit will be.
Providence hopes the improvised facilities, dubbed “fatality management trucks,” will take pressure off the hospitals’ internal morgues, which are just about out of room. A rise in deaths and delays in handling remains, both tied to the coronavirus pandemic, have caused the backup.
“Hospital morgues hold fewer than 10 bodies,” Providence said in a statement. “And funeral homes are having difficulty keeping up.”
Several other Oregon hospitals have also brought in mobile morgues as the pandemic death toll continues to mount. The Oregon Health Authority on Friday reported 24 additional deaths tied to COVID-19, bringing the total to 3,272.
Providence is also bringing in about 145 additional Oregon National Guard troops to assist hospital staff in a variety of non-medical roles. Thirty of them will report to Providence Portland and 20 to Portland St. Vincent.
The remainder of the troops will go to work at Providence hospitals in Newberg, Milwaukie, Oregon City and Seaside.
Providence also announced Friday that it will pay the vast majority of its employees $1,000 bonuses in recognition of the stress they’re under. The influx of COVID-19 patients and the difficulty of treating them have left nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and other caregivers exhausted and discouraged.
Providence has 23,000 employees in Oregon. Only higher-level administrators and executives will not be eligible for the bonuses
A serious shortage of qualified nurses has made the pandemic all the more difficult for local hospitals. Providence announced it will also pay $1,000 to $7,500 in referral bonuses to employees who bring in qualified job candidates.
To help seal the deal with potential new workers, Providence said it is offering “highly competitive” signing bonuses. It says it is also making “market-based pay adjustments where needed.” These pay hikes are aimed primarily at lower-paid workers.
In all, the bonuses and pay increases will cost the giant nonprofit about $220 million, it said.
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