Dr. Andrew F. Williams receives the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered at Canton-Potsdam Hospital in December 2020. He is one of the nine top St. Lawrence Health doctors who signed an open letter imploring everyone eligible in St. Lawrence County to get the vaccine. (Provided photo)

POTSDAM — St. Lawrence Health is making a desperate plea for those who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19 to get the vaccine.

SLH officials say the ongoing surge of COVID-19 patients, many of whom are not vaccinated, threatens local hospitals’ ability to treat other ailments, even those that are potentially fatal.

“Care in our hospitals is safe, but our ability to provide it is threatened. At any time, you or a loved one might need our support. Heart attacks. Car accidents. Cancer. Appendicitis. Stroke,” SLH medical staff wrote in an open letter. “Now, an ominous question looms: Will you be able to get care from your local community hospital without delay? Today, that is uncertain.”

SLH operates Canton-Potsdam, Massena and Gouverneur hospitals, and several outpatient offices in St. Lawrence County.

To make their plea, nine of SLH’s top doctors penned the letter that will run as a full-page ad in the Watertown Daily Times, the Daily Courier Observer and the Malone Telegram. In big blue letters, it starts with: “We are heartbroken. We are overwhelmed.”

They say that not only are their emergency departments and beds filled to the max, the COVID-19 patient surge takes a heavy toll on their understaffed frontline health care workers.

“Our emergency departments are overfilled, and we have patients in every bed in our hospitals. This pandemic has strained our operations and deflated many people on our teams,” the letter reads.

SLH is imploring the community to get vaccinated and get a booster shot. The letter also urges everyone to wear a mask, even when vaccinated.

“Encourage neighbors and loved ones to take these steps,” SLH says.

The St. Lawrence County Public Health Department reported 113 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. COVID hospitalizations are at 16 as of Tuesday. Active cases are at 459. Since the pandemic began, 158 people in the county have died of COVID.

Public Health is offering upcoming clinics for first and second doses for teens and adults, pediatric doses and booster shots. People can sign up for an appointment online at wdt.me/SLCvax or by calling the department at 315-379-2325.

Jolene F. Munger, interim director of the county Public Health Department, said her staff is overworked and dealing with low morale and staffing shortages.

“Before the pandemic, everybody in the department did have a full-time job. COVID is a full-time job in and of itself. We’re doing two full-time jobs, and we have been for almost two full years now,” Ms. Munger said. “Morale in the office, we do our best to keep it up. There are days where it is tough. You get a lot of negativity from the community … but it’s the positive people in the community who are the ones that are making it easier.”

She agrees with SLH’s stance that vaccines are the best way to slow the surge of new COVID-19 cases, and prevent hospitalization and death.

“The point of the vaccine is to reduce the severity of the disease. We only have approximately 58% of our (St. Lawrence County) population fully vaccinated. That other half is putting that strain on the health care system,” she said. “The ones that aren’t vaccinated are the ones ending up in the hospitals and requiring more care than the ones who are vaccinated and testing positive.”

She said she credits her staff with persisting under difficult conditions.

“We are in this together. COVID fatigue is real, but so is COVID,” Ms. Munger said. “Everybody in the Public Health Department is doing what they can to keep the community safe and healthy. I think they’re doing a fabulous job with their hard work and dedication.”

She urges everyone to stay home if they feel sick, and to get tested for COVID-19.

“Stay home if you’re sick. That should be a general rule, regardless of a pandemic or not,” she said. “Get tested if you’re having symptoms, but just because you test negative for COVID doesn’t mean you might not have the flu. It’s important to speak to a primary care provider if you’re symptomatic.”

This latest open letter is not SLH’s first time pleading with everyone eligible in the community to get vaccinated.

“Never have we seen such a continuously high percentage of inpatient bed capacity filled by COVID-positive patients,” SLH Chief Executive Officer David B. Acker wrote earlier in December. “Unlike most routine inpatient cases, COVID patients require a substantially greater amount of staff resources at a time of our greatest staffing shortage. Not only do COVID-positive patients require more intense resource deployment, their lengths of stay run longer.”

SLH isn’t the only local health care entity begging for everyone who can, to get the vaccine. The University of Vermont Health Network, which operates Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, recently published an open letter voicing the same concerns and level of desperation.

“Our Intensive Care Units are nearing capacity. All of our people, providing all types of care throughout our health system, are being pushed to the brink,” UVM wrote in its letter. “In some cases, that number is much higher, and the outcomes are not always good. Similar trends prevail across Vermont and Northern New York.”

“What’s frustrating to all of us is that we know our best hope of ending this crisis is vaccination,” the UVM letter continues. “The vast majority of eligible people living in Vermont (80%) and in New York (75%) have been vaccinated. Yet, if you’ve chosen not to get vaccinated, you’re keeping the virus alive and putting everyone at risk.”

UVM says vaccines aren’t a “silver bullet,” but if a vaccinated person contracts a breakthrough case of COVID-19, being vaccinated is “the best protection for a severe case” that could lead to hospitalization or death.

SLH’s open letter is signed by Dr. Florence Bero, family practice assistant chair at CPH; Dr. Nimesh Desai, Massena Hospital medical director; Dr. George Dodds, Gouverneur Hospital medical director; Dr. Robert Rogers II, chief medical officer; Dr. Birinder Singh, Massena Hospital chief of medicine; Dr. Kathleen Terrance, CPH pediatrics chair; Dr. Kris VanWagner, CPH chief of medical staff; Dr. Julie Vieth, CPH emergency department chair; and Dr. Andrew Williams, CPH associate chief medical officer.

UVM’s open letter is signed by Dr. John R. Brumstead, president and CEO; Dr. David W. Clauss, chief medical officer and senior vice president; and Annette Macias-Hoag, chief nursing officer and senior vice president.