MINNEAPOLIS, March 14, 2008—A Star Tribune story today says there may not be enough ventilators at Minnesota hospitals to handle an influenza crisis.

So many ventilators were being used in Minnesota hospital ICUs that many hospitals had to rent extras. A few hospitals moved patients with respiratory problems to other units.

And last week was not an unusual week -- just the usual number of respiratory cases for this time of year. So the question is, Does the state have a sufficient supply of ventilators available for a real crisis?

A Minnesota Department of Health survey on Tuesday found that 83 percent of the 950 beds in hospital ICUs were in use, compared with 85 percent the previous week. ICUs usually are about 80 percent full. 

Some planners have warned for years that with the existing supply of ventilators, a major flu outbreak could result in many deaths.

The Mayo Clinic rented four ventilators last week to be on the safe side. They were informed by their equipment rental company that they got the last four ventilators in stock.

Demand for ventilators has already eased this week, the Star Tribune article said.

Read the entire Star Tribune article