Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Baker City. The hospital closed its birthing center Aug. 26, 2023.

BAKER CITY — St. Alphonsus Health System officials are evaluating the staffing levels needed to operate the intensive care unit at the Baker City hospital as staffing shortages, along with few patients needing such care, have led to the unit closing intermittently over the past several months, and consistently for the past three weeks.

In a press release on Friday, Jan. 13, the hospital stated that the ICU issues are due to “difficulty recruiting permanent and temporary staff and a consistently low number of patients requiring this level of medical service.”

“The staffing challenges and low patient census in the ICU have necessitated an evaluation of the operational and staffing levels needed for this service,” the press release states.

It’s not clear whether or not that means the ICU will reopen, with a smaller staff, or when.

In response to that question, Mark Snider, the media, public relations and digital strategy coordinator for St. Alphonsus Health System, referred to the press release.

The Baker City hospital is classified as a critical access hospital, which are small facilities that offer limited inpatient and outpatient hospital services to residents in rural communities.

The press release states: “Similar to other rural critical access hospitals nationally and in our markets in both Idaho and Oregon, it is standard clinical practice to treat and stabilize patients needing a higher level of care and transfer them to other facilities for the needed level of acute care.”