(CNN) – Photos shared among emergency room personnel at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit show bodies stored in empty hospital rooms and stacked on top of each other inside refrigerated units moved to the hospital parking lot.
CNN acquired the photos of an emergency room worker.
Two other emergency room workers confirm that the photos are an accurate representation of the scene taking place in the hospital in early April, during a 12-hour shift that they describe as overwhelming.
Emergency room workers spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity out of concern about their jobs.
The two sources tell CNN that at least one room, which is generally used for studies on sleeping habits, was used to store bodies because the morgue staff did not work at night and the morgue was full.
“All I know is that we ran out of beds to support our patients so we couldn’t leave any for the bodies,” said an emergency room worker, who witnessed the bodies in the room.
In the photo, two bodies were placed on a bed, side by side, and another body was placed on a chair next to the bed. All three bodies are in white bags.
“It was because we still hadn’t gotten our outdoor freezers, so those rooms had beds and the people at the morgue don’t work overnight,” said the emergency room worker.
In response to this incident, two hospital emergency workers told CNN that the hospital decided to order portable refrigeration units to store the bodies.
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On Saturday, CNN visited the hospital. Five refrigerated storage units could be seen in the parking lot.
And, in another CNN photo of an emergency room worker, body bags are shown superimposed on each other inside a refrigerated unit at the hospital.
Two other emergency workers confirm to CNN that they have personally seen victims thus located inside the units due to the increasing number of bodies.
They say that the blue bags shown in the photo are the personal effects of the deceased.
“The bodies are definitely stacked on the floor. There is no elevator to help put the bodies on the shelf, ”said an emergency room worker who has witnessed similar scenes with the bodies.
In response to a call for comment, hospital spokesman Brian Taylor told CNN: “Patients who die in our hospital are treated with respect and dignity, they remain in place until they can be properly discharged.” .
He added: “Like hospitals in New York and elsewhere, we have secured additional resources such as mobile refrigeration units to help temporarily manage the capacity problem caused by covid-19.”
Six emergency room workers told CNN that the hospital was treating between 100 and 130 patients at a time during the same period in early April, when it was at its highest volume. In recent days, according to workers, the case load has been reduced significantly to about 50 patients, which they say is a more manageable number.
Taylor said the hospital focused on providing additional nursing resources to help address the increase in cases.
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