Grangeville

(Runtime 1:00)Jaelle Downs was a wilderness ranger for the Cle Elum Ranger District in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. Being out amongst the towering…

Rural "critical access" hospitals, often some of the largest employers in small towns, have been operating on razor-thin margins throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

There is no intensive care unit at Grangeville, Idaho's Syringa Hospital. So when they do get a critically ill patient or trauma victims, it's standard protocol to stabilize and transfer them to a large regional hospital in western Montana or Spokane, Wash. But what if ICUs in those places become overwhelmed with coronavirus patients?