As more COVID-19 patients increase, Memorial Hospital in South Bend is finding ways to free up more beds and ventilators to those who need it.

"Over the passed month, we have been preparing in terms of adjusting our facilities to anticipate what we think the surge -- the statistical modeling of what the surge will look like."

It is a surge Memorial Hospital and Beacon Children's Hospital President Larry Tracy says is starting to ramp up.

"We are now reaching a stage where we are now starting to see more and more patients and more and more suspected patients," Tracy told 16 News Now Monday.

And more patients means the need for more PPE, ventilators and critical care beds; resources all health care facilities are trying to get their hands on.

"It's kind of the Wild Wild West out there right now, but we haven't spared any expense in having to get the PPE necessary to protect our associates," Tracy says.

While Memorial Hospital is pretty well-positioned with most PPE use for now, Tracy says they are short of supply on some things like surgical gowns and paralytic, a proper medication that allows patients be put on ventilators.

"You can imagine the anxiety is starting to build but there is a lot of camaraderie and a lot of teamwork," Tracy says.

And because of that teamwork over the past month, and canceling elective surgeries, Tracy says Memorial Hospital has been able to double their supply of ventilators and critical care beds.

"We haven't gotten anything from the national stock pile or this national effort to produce ventilators but it has been about readjusting the resources that are within our hospital."

Memorial Hospital continues to have limited access in and out of their hospital. If you are discovering any symptoms of COVID-19, you are asked to call the hospital first before arriving in person.