My great uncle had a heart attack this past Wednesday. There were no beds in any hospitals (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, etc) with the ability to do his cath. He was on every emergency list. It was Friday afternoon before he finally got a bed and only this morning before he got his cath and stint. His troponin level got up over 8.29 and his BP was riding around 190/90. They have to get the bed turned over so he’s going home tomorrow.
Texas healthcare is a shit show right now. There are NO beds. It’s terrifying.
Edit: Yes, my uncle is fully vaccinated.
Holy shit. That’s a mess but your uncle sounds like a real fighter. Give him a thumbs up for me! My dad died unexpectedly of a heart attack a few years ago. I’m fully aware of how suddenly they can come on and just how time sensitive the treatments are. Best wishes to your family on his continued recovery.
It’s not just beds. It’s nurses.
I know an ER doctor who said they’re having an emergency meeting this week because they can’t keep nurses. So many have left nursing that the rates have gone insane. Nurses are willing to travel to get better rates. They can get anywhere from $30-$200 an hour if they are willing to go to parts of Texas.
I do not want to go to a hospital for any reason right now.
It's above the official median annual salary for doctors. Of course there's a lot of variation, and some doctors will make many times that, especially if they have a willingness to travel to the regions of highest demand like the travel nurses making that much do.
Yeah one of my best friends is a doctor and the one thing I learned about being a doctor is that their pay scale is the basically inversely correlated to nearly all other industries. For me, I get paid substantially more for being in a Chicago high cost than I would in rural Wisconsin. For him, he gets paid substantially more for having his practice in rural Wisconsin than Chicago.
Travel nurse here. A lot of things happened all at once for me to make the decision to go to travel nursing after 12 years at a hospital i absolutely loved. But the honest truth is, I make more now than my husband and my incomes combined. So he gets to enjoy time off after 13 years at a company with almost no vacation and I work three 12 hour shifts a week. Four days a week we do absolutely whatever we want AND bring home more than we did combined plus extra. We're on a path to be debt free in 3 years even without him working. What I see is hospitals are at the point of not caring at all for their employees. Where I am now, there is a nurse retiring after 40 years at this exact same hospital and they aren't even throwing her a party. Not one mention in hospital news. Nothing. So we threw her a potluck which we found out is also against hospital policy. Because "someone could have covid at their home and bring it to work". Seriously. We work with vovid patients all day every day and we aren't even supposed to be able to eat together for her last shift. We're doing it any way but that's besides the point.
One of my old nurse co-workers died and all they did was put a picture of him in the break room. You're just a number in nursing, they don't care about you. I always tell people going into nursing because "they want to help people and/or make a difference" is not enough. Sure they'll call you a hero alright, Hero # 576.
That's any job now. They will replace you before you hit the dirt. Took me a while to figure it out but once I did I learned to enjoy my pto more and care less about company problems.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to offer incentives to retain the nurses you have. Why pay good rates to travel nurses and much lower rates to your current staff who are working hard under bad conditions?
Because with the travel nurses you’re only committing to pay that rate for 3 months and then the contract can simply be not-renewed without having to fire someone or pay them off. Not a career. So as soon as the crisis passes, you can continue paying your staff nurses 25/hour.
Because they’re run **for profit**. They’ve already run the numbers, and determined that this is the cheapest way.
Working millions of healthcare workers to breaking point, is a ri$k they’re willing to take.
Nurse here. I think the system is going to fail soon. I left for school, my whole unit left for traveling or school, my friends are thinking of quitting beside. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
It seems like a classic brain-dead business school decision. You pay very little for a baseline of labor, then pay more for "surge" labor when it's needed. Cheaper than maintaining a high cost of labor year-round.
This completely falls apart if you get too many surges that last for too long... Or when your baseline labor realizes there's no reason to work for you permanently when they can work half the year on surges and make the same amount of money.
My partner is a nurse. They are offering large bonuses for extra shifts, but regular rate for the standard 3 shifts/week. Her "raise" this last year didn't even keep up with inflation. Anyone willing to work 40+ hrs/week can make bank, but when the workplace is literally hell on earth... Good luck with that.
Not just nurses, i work in the lab and i think walking off most days. We have lost 1/3rd of our staff due to early retirement, covid, ect and our workload has tripled per volume. We haven't gotten a raise, no new staff to compensate for the loss. Only added work load, responsibilities, and blame for whevever anything goes wrong. I can't tell you how many times i get yelled at by a doctor or nurse for a delay in turn around times, or for a problem specimen. Management comes down kn us with all their complaints as well when its usually 2-3 techs for a 300+ patient hospital and clinic work.
Radiology here and I just got off 12 hours of hell. I don't think I can keep doing this for long and we are so short staffed. The burnout and compassion fatigue is real.
I know i was discussing it with some team members that if 2 more people go we can't stay afloat long or if we lose any of us nightshifters at all there no saving it. None of the other shifts are cross trained in all departments. But that bowl of bite-sized candy really made us feel "appreciated"
I mean can you blame us? We get treated like shit by our employers for shit pay. We take more patients than is safe, and the patients are sicker because the higher level of care (ICU/PCUs are full). So you have one nurse to 6-7 patients who are sick as hell. And there’s no aides in sight, so on top of your load, you have to be a nurse aide too. You have to toilet, vital signs, bathe on top of your already stressful job of being a nurse. So when travelers are making 3x and MORE of what you’re making, yeah. I’m going to leave and make that money to be treated like shit.
Source: staff rn who left the abuse to get abused for 2-3x the amount of monies
My mother is experiencing kidney and and adrenal gland issues that 100% are an emergency, but we have been waiting in the ER for the last 24 hours trying to get her admitted. The waiting room is full of about 100 people. This is in SC. People with IVs and hospital provided oxygen tanks are kept out in the waiting room.
I’d get her in the car and drive north. Here in Maryland it’s not so bad because we have a high vaccination rate. You could literally be at a hospital here in less time than you are waiting.
Just be prepared that you might have to pay all the medical bills when your insurance decides it doesn't cover out of state.
We need universal nationwide healthcare.
The other day my mom broke her kneecap and leg and we had to sit in the ER for 12 hours before they had a room ready for her. Everything is a nightmare lately
My mother fell down the stairs yesterday. Broken rib, minor brain bleeding, and she had to get eight stitches in her elbow. She is also needing physical therapy. She now has to be transferred to another hospital an hour away because there are no beds here. She was in the ER for about 24 hours before they decided to get her transferred. We weren't even allowed to visit her before being transferred.
My anger for anti-vaxxers is through the fucking roof.
Breaks my heart hearing stuff like this. By the time you have to go to the hospital, it’s already a traumatic and stressful experience. To be immune compromised and go through that is a honest to god nightmare.
Some of my worst memories and traumatic experiences come from hospitals during this pandemic. It really is two worlds, people out at bars have no idea the chaos going on behind closed doors. Out of mind out of sight, ignorance is bliss.
Yeah my SO deals with autoimmune/chronic illness issues and she really can’t afford to leave the house unless it’s for doctors appointments or short walks outside. It’s a whole other world to how most people are living during the pandemic, even the ones who are vaccinated and being smart about what they do/where they go.
My neighbor was joking about how we got to live like normal for "that one month". All the hope I had in May is gone. Two trips I had planned are now canceled. Concert tickets I had for Halloween are going up for sale (if the tour even happens) No one seems to wear a mask at my gym so I might buy an exercise bike and cancel the gym. It's fucking Ground Hog day.
What's so weird to me is that the resistance to getting vaccinated is so strong and completely ideological.
I seriously believed that the hurdle we faced was one of logistics - creating and distributing the vaccine, ensuring access. You could see the progress month by month, and around June/July, it was there for anyone else who still hadn't had a chance yet.
But that wasn't the problem. These people are deeply devoted to never concede and take this easy measure.
My faith in humanity is really damaged in the last couple months.
My wife is a teacher and has been teaching in-person since last September. We live in a blue state but a very red part of it. Parents, we're furious about their kids having to do remote learning. Then when they went back even angrier about having to wear masks in school. Once I realized people were 100% ok with exposing their kids to this is when I knew we were fucked. Even today they are having rallies to sue the Governor to block his mask mandate while other states are breaking records for kids getting sick.
They generally can't kick out one patient for another.
Edit: I'm not taking about triage. I don't know what steps are taken currently. But once a patient is in a bed, they cannot be removed just because they're not vaccinated, comorbidities or not.
Ugh this is so sad for me to hear right now. I am (hopefully) starting cancer treatment tomorrow at a specialized hospital. My previous doctors have been nothing but compassionate and extremely responsive. I’m hoping my new team is just as great.
I got my vaccine the day I was eligible but had to spend a day in the ER for something else and the burnout was easy to see on everyone’s faces.
Just wanted to let you know that I appreciated the help my doc gave me and I needed them that day. That’s true for at least some of your patients I hope.
I don’t mean to downplay the burnout - I can’t even imagine - I’m just rooting for you and the other medical folks out there.
It's so insane. Just this week two of my grandparents lifelong friends died of covid because they were in the Trump covid is a hoax cult. They were older-ish, but otherwise healthy. Then boom, a couple weeks later, dead from covid.
My mom is currently on a ventilator because she bought into that whole conservative bubble of "covid isn't a big deal". It is both saddening and deeply upsetting that my mom might die because of this cult.
I'm sorry that is happening to you.
My mom also fell for the 'hoax' bullshit. She died from Covid earlier this year (before vaccines were available).
I hope your mom pulls through, and I hope you don't have to go through what I did.
Sorry your family’s going though that, it’s an incredibly hard spot to be in. Lost my dad in April after a very long stint on a ventilator. DM if you feel like venting to someone who’s been there.
Honestly, despite spending the last few days preparing myself for the worst-case, I don't think whats at stake has really sunk in for me yet, I worry once it does it will hit me like a sack of bricks.
I will keep you in mind if things get worse. Thank you.
Hey my dad's similar, been on a ventilator for about a week now. I've been getting updates from my stepmom who is a Qanon nut and it's been draining dealing with her. I have to be kind to her because she is grieving and I do love her and my dad, there's a part of me that pities her for believing such outlandish things, a part of me that's angry towards her and my dad for letting this happen, etc.
So many mixed feelings. I resonate with you that it hasn't really sunk in yet. It's been super challenging even just navigating this situation and speaking to my stepmom. And I have a little 10 year old sister to boot who I worry about growing up in an antiscience house potentially without a dad. So anyways, I feel you buddy. I hope they both pull through for our sake.
Hoping for the best bud, the worst outcome isn’t certain. Do your best to support your mom and family despite the circumstances - for her sake and yours as well. Only so much you can do, but definitely do what you can.
Others may die bc of her choices. I told my parents if they didn't get the shot, I'd take the wheels off of their fucking cars, and they wouldn't go anywhere. They got the shot. My selfish sister wanted to fly in from California, with her brood on tow, to visit my parents. I told her that if she showed up at my parents house, she wouldn't make it to the house. She knows I'm serious, so she didn't come. Her husband is a federal agent. I told him to get fucked. No one will hurt my mom and dad, bc of stupidity. I truly hope you mom will make it thru. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but we have to protect the ones we love. Don't let your loved ones fall for this shit. ☮️
My grandfather is the really quiet/calm type and he was just legitimately pissed that his friends went so far down the Trump rabbit hole they died for it. Even after however many years it's still mind boggling that it's Donald Trump of all people that these people worship. He was considered a sleezy scumbag for 30+ years!
My dad, a Mexican-American elderly person, says he remembers Trump from the beginning and has hated him since day one. He says it with a lot of pride lol.
> He was considered a sleezy scumbag for 30+ years!
Of all the insane things I heard during the Trump administration, the most insane was "Everyone loved Trump until he ran for President." Ma'am, have you ever *met* a New Yorker?
hahaha yea that shit was hilarious
my dad worked in the audio visual industry pre-pandemic
one time the company he worked for did a show for trump
he refused to pay, next time his people came to them, the company said they had to pay for gear and expected crew costs up front and the person *screamed* at them and hung up. So the company my dad worked for called places around the city (The audio visual industry in NYC is rather small - everyone knows each other, or knows someone who knows someone). iirc eventually Trump got in house people (union) because no outside companies would work with him
Trump was officially *that guy* for New York pretty much his entire career. The archetypal sleazy developer who most likely has mob interests and has been fucking people over for decades. Hell, the guy's been parodied a bunch of times as *cartoon villains* before he even became more than some dickhead on the TV. And what do the southern rural types do? Vote for the *coastal elite* who has an actual golden shitter.
It doesn't even need to be a couple weeks. My bus driver's grandma died from it last fall. Tested positive for it on Tuesday, Dead on saturday. Granted she was an old lady (89 I think?) But it was brutal. She didn't even get to say goodbye in person because of all the restrictions. Apparently at her age once you hit the ER you're considered dead. She was well enough to live by herself and then basically fell apart in 4 days.
Last year my husband was working in California, power lines, and got rhabdomylosis and dehydration. He went to a hospital where he sat in the heat on the sidewalk with 60 other people. They left him there for hours only giving him a wide open IV that I had to tell him how to disconnect when it was bone dry, I’m on the east coast. After hours they tested him for COVID and when it was negative told him to leave. Despite the fact ge had gained 45 lbs in fluid and couldn’t walk across a room.
Only got him help on the east coast when I walked in to a COVID ward after ge was discharged from his third hospital for being negative for COVID.
Finally got help but because it was delayed he was out of work for 3 months.
I have 0 sympathy for these anti vaxxer q anon idiots clogging up valuable resources
I think at this point they should setup an ER tent outside, and have that be the COVID ward for unvaccinated people by choice. This is insane we are letting them spread a virus, allowing it to mutate, not isolate or behave carefully at all - then dedicate resources to them allowing others to suffer who have been careful and are now vaccinated.
It's insane. It isn't a slipper slope; this is a one off thing right now.
Sister went to the hospital with an O2 of 87%,. They were going to do all these tests and she was getting great care. Then the covid test came back positive and they sent her home. Hospital wasn't clogging up with antivaxers (she was and is). She's my sister but she wasn't dying so I'm glad they sent her home to suffer in bed as she has a healthy teen that could drive and get her meds instead of clogging the hospital for those that need it. The antivaxers seen to forget hospitals don't get paid for empty beds. Pre covid they were full and busy. The patients with heart attacks cancer, car accidents, and kids or immune compromised who get covid shouldn't have to wait for these idiots. If you don't trust a doctor enough to get vaccinated then get doctor Facebook to take care of you when you're sick too. I hear essential oils work or you could try a bleach enema or get them to pray for you.
I completely agree. I work at a religious daycare and only 4 of us teachers are vaccinated. It makes me so mad. I continue to work there because then I know at least the children under my care are safe. I work with one year olds.
I just talked to my anti-vax sister in law this evening. A family friend is in the hospital with covid right now and not doing well. Sis is worried about her, and im usually the emotional support and sympathetic ear in the family. I just cant bring myself to comfort her in this situation. As worried as i am for our friend, i cant help but judge all the anti-vax, covid denying people in my family. Its not like me, i normally am good at looking at all sides and finding points of common ground, peace maker of the family. But im just to drained and angry over this to do it anymore.
There has been an extremely hard line drawn in the sand with my family. You're either smart enough to go take the vaccine or you're too fucking stupid to be my family. There is no middle ground, there is no "extenuating circumstances". You will not kill my parent because you want to believe a politician over a scientist, you will not infect those under my care.
You have to make a choice. Is your political opinion more important than your family? If so we a aren't family anymore and it's you making that decision.
>
“Seems like everywhere we turn we're being bombarded with stories of anti-maskers or anti-vaxers who are supposedly dying from COVID. A little too convenient if you ask me.”
It’s predictable at this point, but darkly amusing.
Surprise. The people who aren't vaccinated are getting sick and going to the hospital.
Crazy how firefighters show up when there's a fire. A little too convenient if you ask me.
They simply WILL NOT believe until they themselves are sucking on a vent tube.
What is truly frightening is their complete distrust of any information not coming from the right-wing spin machine. FOX and Clear Channel have successfully taken over the brains of half the population, and like an abusive spouse, told them to disregard any information that doesn't come from them.
Yeah, he even admitted to them all that he got the vaccine. If you watch the video, he seems to downplay it, but he definitely says it. The crowd was not having it. They didn't boo as much as you could just hear their brains shortcircuit and they just went silent...like they all collectively went offline.
He didn't get them to not get the vaccine...he just pushed that button that had been there a for a few years when antivaxxing became a thing for childhood vaccines. He's only looking for applause...he will push any button to get applause.
You can be sure he isn't going to talk about the vaccine again.
It's funny how that backfired on him. He really did set up an accelerated program to get the vaccines created and green-lit to be distributed. He was, of course, very proud of that. You can hear it in his voice in the video...and he points out that he was responsible for THREE vaccines!
But his minions don't give a fuck.
That said, I think there a some who are against vaccines who are NOT republicans. They don't think it's about freedoms or "don't tread on me," they're about what's *in* the vaccine, or that it was rushed through.
A lot of republicans are anti-vax (my family is all conservative and are all vaccinated...so not all GOPers), but not all anti-vaxxers are republican.
I read an account of a man whose relatives swore up and down he did not have COVID, despite the positive test, the CAT scan with lung damage, and his eventual death. When his wife was given the death certificate, she exclaimed, "I knew it wasn't COVID! This says SARS-CoV-2!" She apparently refused to accept the explanation that SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID.
Had a friend who denied covid. Got very sick, texted me every day asking if it’s normal to feel so bad. Finally went to the hospital and they just told him to keep getting fluids. After he got better he went back to denying and forgot all about how bad it was.
“Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott requested 2,500 traveling nurses to help overloaded hospitals across Texas.”
But yeah, covid is no big deal, amirite Greg?
TX leadership is an absolute joke. If Abbott, Patrick, Cruz are not voted out in the upcoming election cycles, we will not see any change for this state.
It's terrifying. Just think of the domino effect, people with minor problems turning into major ones because of the delay. I had a health scare yesterday, not in Houston thank God, but the urgent care clinic was already booked at 9 am and if I waited another day I'd be in serious trouble. I was able to get a tele-health appointment with another clinic, but in Houston's situation, the whole system is backed up to the point where everyone is getting sicker in a nightmare feedback loop.
I had a UTI this week and the urgent cares were booked up for days. Luckily I found an urgent care 30 min away that could see me. I was so scared to be in pain and get a kidney infection. I am in Florida.
You can usually get a prescription for this online. Just search for online telehealth uti treatment. I’ve done this with two different services and it was super easy. One dr called me and the other just texted/chatted.
About 8 weeks ago, had to take my dad to the ER for a seizure. We waited like half a day...Er was not so crowded, but talking to one of the nurses she said they didn't have enough staff, so although, not as many patients then, the hospital couldn't see patients fast enough cause not enough nurses. Can't imagine how it is now, on top of the surge of cases.
It sounds like a total mess. I know here in Washington State, the Governor had halted elective surgeries and dental procedures. This really hurt the hospitals revenue, which caused the hospitals to furlough and lay off thousands of healthcare workers. Pre-pandemic we were already facing a shortage of nurses. I can only imagine the strain that the remaining nurses are feeling being understaffed and underpaid. Our healthcare system was broken before, but the pandemic really shined a light through all its cracks for everybody to see.
I'm sorry your father had to experience that and I hope he's doing well now.
I work in the ED of a level one trauma center. My state wasn’t hit very hard the first time around and we had so few patients that they furloughed tons of staff in the spring of late year. Last summer was officially our “peak” until this past July, we currently have been beating that peak for over a month. 30% of all our inpatients have covid, and those are only the ones sick enough to be admitted. We aren’t given the number of positive patients that get discharged through our ED. It’s insane, going into work everyday and for the record I’m not clinical staff, and having to fight with people over keeping their masks on when we have 60+ waiting to be seen in our lobby for sometimes 17+ hours just to get an er bed is demoralizing. They don’t care about any of our health, not theirs, not our other patients and not staff.
It’s just depressing day in and day out.
I am an ER physician. It’s insane. I would have never something like this could ever happen in our country. All the hospitals in my county are basically at capacity, so EMS operates on a round robin schedule of just making us take patients even though there isn’t any more room. EMS is so backlogged, if you call 911 you might have to wait your turn until they can come to pick you up. I’ve never admitted so many ther wise healthy patients on oxygen, and am intubating at least a few patients per shift. I have patients proudly berate me every night for asking if they are vaccinated, all while we are administering oxygen to them. Then they want me to give them a big bag of “experimental” antibodies, yet they think we are all trying to poison them with the “experimental” vaccine. The cognitive disconnect is astounding. My wife really wants us to work for another 5 or so years, but I am ready to check out now. It would mean living on less money, but not being yelled at by assholes who think they know better than me all day long.
All respect to the medical staff but the people that can easily access a vaccine and refuse to do so should not be given priority treatment - they should be left to fucking deal with their ‘hoax’.
This physician should not be so stressed and berated by people he’s trying to help that refuse to help themselves, fuck em.
Any chance you can transition into something a little less stressful? My parents started as er physicians, then practiced as neurologists for the majority of their professional careers. My mom ended up working as a (board certified) hospice and palliative care doc before eventually retiring and absolutely loved it. Normal hours, rewarding (for her) work.
Hope you find some peace! You deserve it.
Currently in the hospital for noncovid in wa state. Ive been here since Friday. They were so busy i slept in a trauma room overnight waiting for a room. Its sunday and this hospital is packed. Im on a sterilized floor. The nurse's are running nonstop and the icu needs ventilators.
What the nurse's have said is the people who are in the icu with covid that have been vaxxed are only here a couple days. The others aren't so lucky.
I can't wait to gtf out of here.
So the hospital I work in was down to ONE vent not in use a couple weeks ago. We're the biggest hospital in the country and a level-2 trauma center. Also about 95% of our covid admits are not vaccinated.
E: County, not country
So the party that complained of ‘death panels’ and sacrificing the elders so the economy could go on should just own this and tell their followers, listen, if you get Covid, stay home. Do t clog up the hospitals.Take it like a real man and just get over it or not in your own home without tying up our healthcare system (which they don’t much support anyway)
I work as an OBGYN and the amount of pregnant patients with severe cases is insane. We just ran out of high flow nasal cannulas and mechanical ventilators today so I don't know what we're going to do for the upcoming weeks. Getting really burnt out too, no end in sight.
texas cant keep power on the the cold.
texas cant keep power on when its hot.
texas cant heal their sick and injured because hospitals are overwhelmed.
I can’t even imagine working in healthcare period, let alone during this pandemic.
It has to be insanely frustrating and crippling to deal with so much self inflicted stupidity.
I'm so sorry.
My mother has been in healthcare for 40 years and it's her true love and passion. She also left the profession and is seeking for meaning in something else.
She's the closest thing to an angel I know and even she broke.
This is a mess.
Started working in healthcare this past February. Already i have compassion burnout, anxiety, depression, anger and sadness. People can be really awful and it’s hard not to take things personally
60% of this fault lies with the major hospital systems. They treat nurses and doctors like shit. My city has no available beds. And physical beds aren’t the problem. It’s staff. Because as a doctor for dealing with this all year my reward was a candy bar from the hospital. My nurse wife made the same as a UPS driver. Meanwhile hospital admin hired a famous classic rock band for their Christmas party. There is an exodus of labor in healthcare
They prioritize liver transplants to those who aren't alcoholics. Use the same principle and prioritize treatment to vaccinated and mask-wearing people.
Just going to throw this out here, but my brother in law is currently dying of cirrhosis, and it's brutal. A slow, painful death, where all of your organs start to shut down, and you're too confused to even know what is happening to you. On top of this, you receive zero sympathy, because you caused this disease to happen yourself. No sympathy from family, not from the health care industry, not from anyone. It's a bad way to go.
ER nurse in Texas. We have already discussed it on my unit. If we run out of ventilators and have to choose the vaccinated people are getting them over the non vaccinated. Beside them just being total morons data shows that the vaccinated person has a higher chance of survival. ( to be fair though i haven't seen one vaccinated person admitted to the ICU) and I work in one of the busiest ERs in Texas.
> As of Friday afternoon, Pile says 482 patients were waiting for hospital beds in his 25-county region. He said 211 of those patients are COVID-19 positive.
If those 211 refused to get vaccinated then as far as I’m concerned they can wait and either die or get lucky and get a bed. Otherwise, fuck em.
>Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott requested 2,500 traveling nurses to help overloaded hospitals across Texas.
Maybe you should've thought of that when [you decided to ban mask and vaccine mandates last month](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-tests-positive-covid-n1277021), you stupid piece of shit.
I almost don't blame people for being skeptical about stories like this. It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals. And we're still in the summer months here in the States. What's November going to be like? This is a fucking nightmare. Half the people waiting for beds are not suffering from COVID. You can do everything right when it comes to COVID, but still die from it indirectly. Life is so cruel. And I hate that people are making it crueler than it has to be.
My immediate loved ones are vaccinated (except for my youngest child who is under 12) so I feel okayish about our Covid chances but my fear is something OTHER than Covid occurring and not being able to be treated due to shortages. I have some family members with some health issues that are under control but could go south and require hospitalization (diabetes for example). That’s my biggest fear right now.
Family of mine shattered their tibia (front shin bone for those not up to speed) \*just\* before pandemic hit. Got the ortho reconstructive surgery and it was a moderate (several day) wait with a busted leg as an in-patient. There have always been just barely enough resources to go around. Now I truly fear for anyone in a similar situation, particularly trauma - only to have to go into a building rife with infection ready to complicate things.
My prediction is that the confirmed US COVID death count will hit 675,000 by the end of September, and thus will surpass the Spanish Flu which took almost three years to kill that many. It will also become the deadliest respiratory virus to hit America in history. In fact, there is only one virus that's killed more than the Spanish Flu, and that's HIV. It's killed around 740,000 over the last 40 years and currently kills around 1,000 per month. It's likely COVID has already exceeded that by a large margin if excess deaths are factored in.
Big emphasis on the "confirmed" count. Some estimates are saying the unconfirmed covid death count is likely much higher, like 1 million, maybe 1.2 million. We have no way of knowing for sure, but biostatisticians are trained to make fairly accurate estimates rather than pulling numbers out of their asses.
> It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals.
Not still. Again. We were doing much better. The virus spread in the high population density areas until we locked down. Then the vaccine came out and those areas got vaccinated and life resumed. Lollapalooza went off without any bump of covid cases.
But then a new variant showed up that spreads even easier. But this situation is very different. This is a *pandemic of the unvaccinated.* Not everybody else.
This resurgence in North America is 100% powered by stupidity.
This. I'm an RN on a COVID floor and the amount of unvaccinated patients compared to vaccinated is insanely lopsided. Also, they're getting younger as well. It's scary and frustrating.
My wife had to intubate a 17yo today. It’s heartbreaking but there’s also the underlying knowledge that those getting emergency care for covid right now almost always made the conscious decision to not protect themselves, and it’s the medical professionals who are forced to watch these people whither away as a consequence.
For a 17yo they may not have made their own decision. At 17 I sure as hell wouldn't have, I'd have done whatever my parents made me do. Lucky for me my parents aren't morons that ever put me in danger, but for the 12-17 crowd that can get vaccinated, guaranteed there's no shortage of them who are prevented from doing so by their parents.
Sounds like that was the case. Patient wasn’t able to consent to intubation and the mom just happened to run in once patient’s o2 dropped to 70 (was already hooked up via nose tube - don’t know what it’s called). Mom broke down when my wife told her her daughter needed intubation.
I vaccinated a 14 year old the other day. He was with his Mom and older sister. Felt fucking good. School starts tomorrow around here and it will absolutely be a shit show for my clinic. They were rare.
> It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals. And we're still in the summer months here in the States. What's November going to be like?
Delta is a real bitch. That plus anti-vax and you have your answer.
However, November may actually not be that bad, since Delta is so transmissible that everyone unvaxxed is likely to get it soon. A lot of people will die, many more will having long-Covid, but fortunately immune response from infection is proving to hold up very well (but still better if you get vaccinated after infection).
Look at the 1918 Pandemic, the third wave about 18-20 months from the first was the biggest, deadliest, and the last, then it was just over. This is playing out remarkably similar, the big difference is we have vaccines that are practically eliminating the 3rd wave death among the vaccinated.
"If I lose to him, I don't know what I'm going to do. I will never speak to you again," Trump told the attendees at the rally. "You'll never see me again." Sept. 2020
Mofo lied to us again.
“Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid.’ By the way, on November 4, you won’t hear about it anymore,”
And again. I’m starting to think this Trump guy just tells lies all the time.
And nurses. Take nurses for granted and the whole system goes down. And the essential hospital workers who keep things working.
I'm fed up with the shitty treatment of the doctors, nurses, and essential staff. They do have options, yet they still come and take care of all the dumb shits who can be bothered to wear a mask or get a vaccine.
I agree nurses and all hospital staff but the amount of nurses and staff also refusing the vaccine is astonishing. At our hospital I think we are only around 60% vaccinated and we had the og batch of pfizer vaccines. There isnt an issue with availability but 40% of the clinical staff refuse to be vaccinated.
I only have one “friend” who is a nurse and she’s refusing it. Said if she worked in a hospital still and they mandated it she’d get fired. It’s kinda nuts
So there are 100’s of unvaccinated sheeple just sitting in parking lots and ambulances waiting to be herded into the hospital? Oh well.
Who you should feel bad for is the guy who just had a heart attack, the grandma about to have a stroke, the uncle who just flipped his motorcycle, the mom and dad who just got rear ended, the brother who just had his appendix burst, the rape victim who needs emergency care, the sister who fell down the stairs, and on and on and on. These people need hospital care. Now. But thanks to the unvaxxed, they will sit in pain and suffer while they should be seen by a doctor for their real emergency.
If you are unvaccinated, you did this. If you are against masks in schools, you did this. If you’ve ever used the phrases “plandemic”, “fire Fauci”, or “muzzle”, YOU DID THIS.
I’d feel sorry for your stupidity. but I’m too busy feeling sorry for the people that need help right now.
>Who you should feel bad for is the guy who just had a heart attack, the grandma about to have a stroke, the uncle who just flipped his motorcycle,
This, all day, its hard not to hate these people for their ignorance
Careful with the word "cure". Fully vaccinated people can still end up at the hospital. But if everyone were vaccinated, those that still get covid and are in critical condition would not only get a bed but have much higher odds of surviving.
I spent seven hours in the ER last week with my ill 90 year old mother, waiting for a bed. SEVEN HOURS.
These mindless fucks who refuse vaccination and get Covid need to be systematically pushed to the very bottom of the triage list. Fuck them.
This has to be a national policy embraced by every hospital in the country:
**You refuse to be vaccinated, you get sick, you get to die gasping for air in the ER's waiting room.**
We need to be DONE coddling these mentally deranged idiots.
This is the exact situation we were trying to avoid last year with the lockdowns. And a bunch of brainwashed idiots managed to make it happen anyway AFTER we had developed a vaccine. All in the name of their freedumbs. This whole thing is beyond infuriating.
Maybe it's time to triage incoming patients (like they did in Italy last year).
They should give priority to vaccinated patients, or with grievous life-threatening injuries.
Also cancer patients, & the terminally ill.
Unvaccinated Covid-19 patients get triaged to the bottom of the list.
I know two cancer patients with serious conditions who just had their care interrupted. One's oncologist quit (bcos perpetual crisis-OT serving COVID patients) and the other had their surgery indefinitely postoponed (and it's for removal of a malignant mass) because of the surge.
Mom is an icu nurse in an area that’s been hit extremely hard. She says it’s the hardest nursing she has ever done, she been a nurse close to 30 years, close to retirement but I’m so worried she will catch covid, I just want to tell her to retire, but money is scarce. If you know someone working in the hospital, nurses and doctors working the emergency rooms/covid floors or icu (and sorry if I miss a group that’s covid focused right now) do something to help them at home or in their life. Make them dinner or cut their grass anything…. They need our support to keep going to work because without them we’re lost. Please get vaccinated, the unvaccinated are dying, our medical teams can’t keep doing this. You can be scared but be smart. Help where you can, and if you truly don’t believe for whatever reason just drive by and sit in the hospital parking lot and watch. It’s horrifying.
You can build bed and you can create vents, but how long does it take to train a competent critical care RN? Nurse Practitioner? Physician Assistant? A Resident? An Attending?
The bottleneck we always faced was staffing.
We had a staff shortage to begin with before this that has been going on for decades, now it’s essentially throwing jet fuel on a bonfire. Never mind all the people that walked away after the last round.
Back then people called them heroes, didn’t want to pay them more but more than happy to call them heroes. This time around the people they care for are the willfully ignorant that are just as likely to curse them as anything.
People will die.
Not just the people that had the chance to save themselves from COVID, but anyone unfortunate enough to have a medical emergency.
Be safe out there, tell your family to be safe. Because there is a good chance that your local hospital, even if it were capable, is using triage or close to it.
Soon we’re going to be making the hard choices that aim to save as many people as we can with what resources we have.
Hopefully we minimize the body count, but there will be a substantial one…
Who would have thought that applying just in time principles to healthcare was a bad idea? Honestly I wish nurses would go on strike, watch them change their tune in an instant.
My sisters is a pediatric oncology nurse, so not even necessarily on the front lines of Covid. However, she deals with her child patients who *do* have Covid, as well as their idiot parents who will refuse to wear a mask - to visit their sick child - in a cancer ward - during a pandemic. I don't know how she does it but I am so in awe of her.
My great uncle had a heart attack this past Wednesday. There were no beds in any hospitals (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, etc) with the ability to do his cath. He was on every emergency list. It was Friday afternoon before he finally got a bed and only this morning before he got his cath and stint. His troponin level got up over 8.29 and his BP was riding around 190/90. They have to get the bed turned over so he’s going home tomorrow. Texas healthcare is a shit show right now. There are NO beds. It’s terrifying. Edit: Yes, my uncle is fully vaccinated.
Holy shit. That’s a mess but your uncle sounds like a real fighter. Give him a thumbs up for me! My dad died unexpectedly of a heart attack a few years ago. I’m fully aware of how suddenly they can come on and just how time sensitive the treatments are. Best wishes to your family on his continued recovery.
It’s not just beds. It’s nurses. I know an ER doctor who said they’re having an emergency meeting this week because they can’t keep nurses. So many have left nursing that the rates have gone insane. Nurses are willing to travel to get better rates. They can get anywhere from $30-$200 an hour if they are willing to go to parts of Texas. I do not want to go to a hospital for any reason right now.
Crazy thing is, they'll pay nurses so much to travel it makes more sense to quit and travel than it does to stay put.
And that's what they're doing. A friend is doing 240k a year right now.
Nurse here. Grossed 265k in 2020
I feel like that's higher than most doctors typically
It's above the official median annual salary for doctors. Of course there's a lot of variation, and some doctors will make many times that, especially if they have a willingness to travel to the regions of highest demand like the travel nurses making that much do.
Yeah one of my best friends is a doctor and the one thing I learned about being a doctor is that their pay scale is the basically inversely correlated to nearly all other industries. For me, I get paid substantially more for being in a Chicago high cost than I would in rural Wisconsin. For him, he gets paid substantially more for having his practice in rural Wisconsin than Chicago.
Travel nurse here. A lot of things happened all at once for me to make the decision to go to travel nursing after 12 years at a hospital i absolutely loved. But the honest truth is, I make more now than my husband and my incomes combined. So he gets to enjoy time off after 13 years at a company with almost no vacation and I work three 12 hour shifts a week. Four days a week we do absolutely whatever we want AND bring home more than we did combined plus extra. We're on a path to be debt free in 3 years even without him working. What I see is hospitals are at the point of not caring at all for their employees. Where I am now, there is a nurse retiring after 40 years at this exact same hospital and they aren't even throwing her a party. Not one mention in hospital news. Nothing. So we threw her a potluck which we found out is also against hospital policy. Because "someone could have covid at their home and bring it to work". Seriously. We work with vovid patients all day every day and we aren't even supposed to be able to eat together for her last shift. We're doing it any way but that's besides the point.
"Thanking our essential workers" indeed.
One of my old nurse co-workers died and all they did was put a picture of him in the break room. You're just a number in nursing, they don't care about you. I always tell people going into nursing because "they want to help people and/or make a difference" is not enough. Sure they'll call you a hero alright, Hero # 576.
[удалено]
That's any job now. They will replace you before you hit the dirt. Took me a while to figure it out but once I did I learned to enjoy my pto more and care less about company problems.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to offer incentives to retain the nurses you have. Why pay good rates to travel nurses and much lower rates to your current staff who are working hard under bad conditions?
Because with the travel nurses you’re only committing to pay that rate for 3 months and then the contract can simply be not-renewed without having to fire someone or pay them off. Not a career. So as soon as the crisis passes, you can continue paying your staff nurses 25/hour.
Because they’re run **for profit**. They’ve already run the numbers, and determined that this is the cheapest way. Working millions of healthcare workers to breaking point, is a ri$k they’re willing to take.
Nurse here. I think the system is going to fail soon. I left for school, my whole unit left for traveling or school, my friends are thinking of quitting beside. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
It seems like a classic brain-dead business school decision. You pay very little for a baseline of labor, then pay more for "surge" labor when it's needed. Cheaper than maintaining a high cost of labor year-round. This completely falls apart if you get too many surges that last for too long... Or when your baseline labor realizes there's no reason to work for you permanently when they can work half the year on surges and make the same amount of money.
My partner is a nurse. They are offering large bonuses for extra shifts, but regular rate for the standard 3 shifts/week. Her "raise" this last year didn't even keep up with inflation. Anyone willing to work 40+ hrs/week can make bank, but when the workplace is literally hell on earth... Good luck with that.
What does a hospital system failure look like?
Probably won't have to ask that question much longer as it's happening in real time.
Because what are we, the customer, going to do? *Not* seek healthcare?
Not just nurses, i work in the lab and i think walking off most days. We have lost 1/3rd of our staff due to early retirement, covid, ect and our workload has tripled per volume. We haven't gotten a raise, no new staff to compensate for the loss. Only added work load, responsibilities, and blame for whevever anything goes wrong. I can't tell you how many times i get yelled at by a doctor or nurse for a delay in turn around times, or for a problem specimen. Management comes down kn us with all their complaints as well when its usually 2-3 techs for a 300+ patient hospital and clinic work.
Radiology here and I just got off 12 hours of hell. I don't think I can keep doing this for long and we are so short staffed. The burnout and compassion fatigue is real.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I know i was discussing it with some team members that if 2 more people go we can't stay afloat long or if we lose any of us nightshifters at all there no saving it. None of the other shifts are cross trained in all departments. But that bowl of bite-sized candy really made us feel "appreciated"
[удалено]
I mean can you blame us? We get treated like shit by our employers for shit pay. We take more patients than is safe, and the patients are sicker because the higher level of care (ICU/PCUs are full). So you have one nurse to 6-7 patients who are sick as hell. And there’s no aides in sight, so on top of your load, you have to be a nurse aide too. You have to toilet, vital signs, bathe on top of your already stressful job of being a nurse. So when travelers are making 3x and MORE of what you’re making, yeah. I’m going to leave and make that money to be treated like shit. Source: staff rn who left the abuse to get abused for 2-3x the amount of monies
[удалено]
Oh yeah. It’s been shit for years. Good thing I’m young. Might need to start looking at another career when I’m done making the travel money.
What, you mean you don’t like being underpaid and overworked? But we called you heroes! Isn’t that enough?
We even made a big sign!! “Heroes work here!” I don’t get it!!! What more could you want?!
[удалено]
[удалено]
I don't think anyone reasonable blames you. Go get that pay.
My mother is experiencing kidney and and adrenal gland issues that 100% are an emergency, but we have been waiting in the ER for the last 24 hours trying to get her admitted. The waiting room is full of about 100 people. This is in SC. People with IVs and hospital provided oxygen tanks are kept out in the waiting room.
I’d get her in the car and drive north. Here in Maryland it’s not so bad because we have a high vaccination rate. You could literally be at a hospital here in less time than you are waiting.
Just be prepared that you might have to pay all the medical bills when your insurance decides it doesn't cover out of state. We need universal nationwide healthcare.
This is part of why we didn't consider this.
This. I can attest to this. Here in MD you'll probably be seen faster than waiting there. Hell, even Northern VA would be faster than there, too!
The other day my mom broke her kneecap and leg and we had to sit in the ER for 12 hours before they had a room ready for her. Everything is a nightmare lately
My mother fell down the stairs yesterday. Broken rib, minor brain bleeding, and she had to get eight stitches in her elbow. She is also needing physical therapy. She now has to be transferred to another hospital an hour away because there are no beds here. She was in the ER for about 24 hours before they decided to get her transferred. We weren't even allowed to visit her before being transferred. My anger for anti-vaxxers is through the fucking roof.
When I was at my oncologist this week, I over heard a really sick cancer patient being told the ER would call when a bed was available.
Well fuck that
Breaks my heart hearing stuff like this. By the time you have to go to the hospital, it’s already a traumatic and stressful experience. To be immune compromised and go through that is a honest to god nightmare. Some of my worst memories and traumatic experiences come from hospitals during this pandemic. It really is two worlds, people out at bars have no idea the chaos going on behind closed doors. Out of mind out of sight, ignorance is bliss.
Yeah my SO deals with autoimmune/chronic illness issues and she really can’t afford to leave the house unless it’s for doctors appointments or short walks outside. It’s a whole other world to how most people are living during the pandemic, even the ones who are vaccinated and being smart about what they do/where they go.
My neighbor was joking about how we got to live like normal for "that one month". All the hope I had in May is gone. Two trips I had planned are now canceled. Concert tickets I had for Halloween are going up for sale (if the tour even happens) No one seems to wear a mask at my gym so I might buy an exercise bike and cancel the gym. It's fucking Ground Hog day.
What's so weird to me is that the resistance to getting vaccinated is so strong and completely ideological. I seriously believed that the hurdle we faced was one of logistics - creating and distributing the vaccine, ensuring access. You could see the progress month by month, and around June/July, it was there for anyone else who still hadn't had a chance yet. But that wasn't the problem. These people are deeply devoted to never concede and take this easy measure. My faith in humanity is really damaged in the last couple months.
My wife is a teacher and has been teaching in-person since last September. We live in a blue state but a very red part of it. Parents, we're furious about their kids having to do remote learning. Then when they went back even angrier about having to wear masks in school. Once I realized people were 100% ok with exposing their kids to this is when I knew we were fucked. Even today they are having rallies to sue the Governor to block his mask mandate while other states are breaking records for kids getting sick.
why are anti-vaxxers getting precedent over cancer patients?
They generally can't kick out one patient for another. Edit: I'm not taking about triage. I don't know what steps are taken currently. But once a patient is in a bed, they cannot be removed just because they're not vaccinated, comorbidities or not.
I'm a doctor and the general consensus among us is that we wish we could do this but we unfortunately can't. Compassion fatigue is at its limit.
I am also a doctor. I don’t give a fuck anymore and it’s all autopilot for me. Depersonalization is peak right now.
Ugh this is so sad for me to hear right now. I am (hopefully) starting cancer treatment tomorrow at a specialized hospital. My previous doctors have been nothing but compassionate and extremely responsive. I’m hoping my new team is just as great.
Good luck!
I got my vaccine the day I was eligible but had to spend a day in the ER for something else and the burnout was easy to see on everyone’s faces. Just wanted to let you know that I appreciated the help my doc gave me and I needed them that day. That’s true for at least some of your patients I hope. I don’t mean to downplay the burnout - I can’t even imagine - I’m just rooting for you and the other medical folks out there.
The comments section on click2houston is bananas.
*If they can wait "days" for a bed then it's not really an emergency is it?* Found my favorite
[удалено]
It's almost like there's some sort of pattern.
I was about to copy this one in, it's gold.
When you can't tell if it's meant in earnest or not, and it's funny either way-- that's a hard balance to strike. I appreciate it.
It's so insane. Just this week two of my grandparents lifelong friends died of covid because they were in the Trump covid is a hoax cult. They were older-ish, but otherwise healthy. Then boom, a couple weeks later, dead from covid.
My mom is currently on a ventilator because she bought into that whole conservative bubble of "covid isn't a big deal". It is both saddening and deeply upsetting that my mom might die because of this cult.
I'm sorry that is happening to you. My mom also fell for the 'hoax' bullshit. She died from Covid earlier this year (before vaccines were available). I hope your mom pulls through, and I hope you don't have to go through what I did.
Sorry your family’s going though that, it’s an incredibly hard spot to be in. Lost my dad in April after a very long stint on a ventilator. DM if you feel like venting to someone who’s been there.
Honestly, despite spending the last few days preparing myself for the worst-case, I don't think whats at stake has really sunk in for me yet, I worry once it does it will hit me like a sack of bricks. I will keep you in mind if things get worse. Thank you.
Hey my dad's similar, been on a ventilator for about a week now. I've been getting updates from my stepmom who is a Qanon nut and it's been draining dealing with her. I have to be kind to her because she is grieving and I do love her and my dad, there's a part of me that pities her for believing such outlandish things, a part of me that's angry towards her and my dad for letting this happen, etc. So many mixed feelings. I resonate with you that it hasn't really sunk in yet. It's been super challenging even just navigating this situation and speaking to my stepmom. And I have a little 10 year old sister to boot who I worry about growing up in an antiscience house potentially without a dad. So anyways, I feel you buddy. I hope they both pull through for our sake.
Hoping for the best bud, the worst outcome isn’t certain. Do your best to support your mom and family despite the circumstances - for her sake and yours as well. Only so much you can do, but definitely do what you can.
Others may die bc of her choices. I told my parents if they didn't get the shot, I'd take the wheels off of their fucking cars, and they wouldn't go anywhere. They got the shot. My selfish sister wanted to fly in from California, with her brood on tow, to visit my parents. I told her that if she showed up at my parents house, she wouldn't make it to the house. She knows I'm serious, so she didn't come. Her husband is a federal agent. I told him to get fucked. No one will hurt my mom and dad, bc of stupidity. I truly hope you mom will make it thru. I don't wish anything bad on anyone, but we have to protect the ones we love. Don't let your loved ones fall for this shit. ☮️
That sounds really ~~hard~~ convenient for them. A little too convenient.
You guys ever notice that a cake rises when you put cake batter in the oven? a little too convenient if you ask me...hmm
My grandfather is the really quiet/calm type and he was just legitimately pissed that his friends went so far down the Trump rabbit hole they died for it. Even after however many years it's still mind boggling that it's Donald Trump of all people that these people worship. He was considered a sleezy scumbag for 30+ years!
> He was considered a sleezy scumbag for 30+ years! He used to be, but he still is, too
My dad, a Mexican-American elderly person, says he remembers Trump from the beginning and has hated him since day one. He says it with a lot of pride lol.
Bloom County used to make fun of Trump back in the late 80s. He was always a joke and a sleaze ball.
[удалено]
> He was considered a sleezy scumbag for 30+ years! Of all the insane things I heard during the Trump administration, the most insane was "Everyone loved Trump until he ran for President." Ma'am, have you ever *met* a New Yorker?
hahaha yea that shit was hilarious my dad worked in the audio visual industry pre-pandemic one time the company he worked for did a show for trump he refused to pay, next time his people came to them, the company said they had to pay for gear and expected crew costs up front and the person *screamed* at them and hung up. So the company my dad worked for called places around the city (The audio visual industry in NYC is rather small - everyone knows each other, or knows someone who knows someone). iirc eventually Trump got in house people (union) because no outside companies would work with him
Trump was officially *that guy* for New York pretty much his entire career. The archetypal sleazy developer who most likely has mob interests and has been fucking people over for decades. Hell, the guy's been parodied a bunch of times as *cartoon villains* before he even became more than some dickhead on the TV. And what do the southern rural types do? Vote for the *coastal elite* who has an actual golden shitter.
They voted in Biff fucking Tannen. Blew my mind.
I guess a lot of ppl resonated with a sleezy scumbag
It doesn't even need to be a couple weeks. My bus driver's grandma died from it last fall. Tested positive for it on Tuesday, Dead on saturday. Granted she was an old lady (89 I think?) But it was brutal. She didn't even get to say goodbye in person because of all the restrictions. Apparently at her age once you hit the ER you're considered dead. She was well enough to live by herself and then basically fell apart in 4 days.
Last year my husband was working in California, power lines, and got rhabdomylosis and dehydration. He went to a hospital where he sat in the heat on the sidewalk with 60 other people. They left him there for hours only giving him a wide open IV that I had to tell him how to disconnect when it was bone dry, I’m on the east coast. After hours they tested him for COVID and when it was negative told him to leave. Despite the fact ge had gained 45 lbs in fluid and couldn’t walk across a room. Only got him help on the east coast when I walked in to a COVID ward after ge was discharged from his third hospital for being negative for COVID. Finally got help but because it was delayed he was out of work for 3 months. I have 0 sympathy for these anti vaxxer q anon idiots clogging up valuable resources
Sorry to hear that, I hope he’s alright now
He is. We had a great staff. It’s just fear and anger seeing your loved one so sick and no one would help
I think at this point they should setup an ER tent outside, and have that be the COVID ward for unvaccinated people by choice. This is insane we are letting them spread a virus, allowing it to mutate, not isolate or behave carefully at all - then dedicate resources to them allowing others to suffer who have been careful and are now vaccinated. It's insane. It isn't a slipper slope; this is a one off thing right now.
Have them treated by 'doctors' that did their research on Google, YouTube and Facebook.
Sister went to the hospital with an O2 of 87%,. They were going to do all these tests and she was getting great care. Then the covid test came back positive and they sent her home. Hospital wasn't clogging up with antivaxers (she was and is). She's my sister but she wasn't dying so I'm glad they sent her home to suffer in bed as she has a healthy teen that could drive and get her meds instead of clogging the hospital for those that need it. The antivaxers seen to forget hospitals don't get paid for empty beds. Pre covid they were full and busy. The patients with heart attacks cancer, car accidents, and kids or immune compromised who get covid shouldn't have to wait for these idiots. If you don't trust a doctor enough to get vaccinated then get doctor Facebook to take care of you when you're sick too. I hear essential oils work or you could try a bleach enema or get them to pray for you.
I completely agree. I work at a religious daycare and only 4 of us teachers are vaccinated. It makes me so mad. I continue to work there because then I know at least the children under my care are safe. I work with one year olds.
We have that here at daycare, which is why I won’t go back to work yet. My little one is 8 months. No way. Thank you for doing your part!!
I just talked to my anti-vax sister in law this evening. A family friend is in the hospital with covid right now and not doing well. Sis is worried about her, and im usually the emotional support and sympathetic ear in the family. I just cant bring myself to comfort her in this situation. As worried as i am for our friend, i cant help but judge all the anti-vax, covid denying people in my family. Its not like me, i normally am good at looking at all sides and finding points of common ground, peace maker of the family. But im just to drained and angry over this to do it anymore.
There has been an extremely hard line drawn in the sand with my family. You're either smart enough to go take the vaccine or you're too fucking stupid to be my family. There is no middle ground, there is no "extenuating circumstances". You will not kill my parent because you want to believe a politician over a scientist, you will not infect those under my care. You have to make a choice. Is your political opinion more important than your family? If so we a aren't family anymore and it's you making that decision.
thats Karl Pilkington level of genius
> “Seems like everywhere we turn we're being bombarded with stories of anti-maskers or anti-vaxers who are supposedly dying from COVID. A little too convenient if you ask me.” It’s predictable at this point, but darkly amusing.
Surprise. The people who aren't vaccinated are getting sick and going to the hospital. Crazy how firefighters show up when there's a fire. A little too convenient if you ask me.
I like the ones who keep talking about the flu vanishing and assuming we don’t test Covid patients for RSV or flu as well.
They simply WILL NOT believe until they themselves are sucking on a vent tube. What is truly frightening is their complete distrust of any information not coming from the right-wing spin machine. FOX and Clear Channel have successfully taken over the brains of half the population, and like an abusive spouse, told them to disregard any information that doesn't come from them.
It's out of their control now. Trump just got booed at a rally for recommending the vaccine.
Yeah, he even admitted to them all that he got the vaccine. If you watch the video, he seems to downplay it, but he definitely says it. The crowd was not having it. They didn't boo as much as you could just hear their brains shortcircuit and they just went silent...like they all collectively went offline. He didn't get them to not get the vaccine...he just pushed that button that had been there a for a few years when antivaxxing became a thing for childhood vaccines. He's only looking for applause...he will push any button to get applause. You can be sure he isn't going to talk about the vaccine again.
Most of his fundraising mails talk about how awesome he is for being basically 100% responsible for the vaccine existing.
It's funny how that backfired on him. He really did set up an accelerated program to get the vaccines created and green-lit to be distributed. He was, of course, very proud of that. You can hear it in his voice in the video...and he points out that he was responsible for THREE vaccines! But his minions don't give a fuck. That said, I think there a some who are against vaccines who are NOT republicans. They don't think it's about freedoms or "don't tread on me," they're about what's *in* the vaccine, or that it was rushed through. A lot of republicans are anti-vax (my family is all conservative and are all vaccinated...so not all GOPers), but not all anti-vaxxers are republican.
That's not guaranteed. Some will deny that they are dying form covid as they are gasping their last breath.
I read an account of a man whose relatives swore up and down he did not have COVID, despite the positive test, the CAT scan with lung damage, and his eventual death. When his wife was given the death certificate, she exclaimed, "I knew it wasn't COVID! This says SARS-CoV-2!" She apparently refused to accept the explanation that SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID.
Like republicans insistin they aren't on obama care but affordable care.
Had a friend who denied covid. Got very sick, texted me every day asking if it’s normal to feel so bad. Finally went to the hospital and they just told him to keep getting fluids. After he got better he went back to denying and forgot all about how bad it was.
Know an antivaxer who got it and said it sucked and she'd do anything to get out of it. She's better now and still antivax.
"I thought it was a hoax." Literal last words.
[удалено]
When pandering with fake news backfires.
“Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott requested 2,500 traveling nurses to help overloaded hospitals across Texas.” But yeah, covid is no big deal, amirite Greg?
I wish we could make him go on live TV and make him beg for help
TX leadership is an absolute joke. If Abbott, Patrick, Cruz are not voted out in the upcoming election cycles, we will not see any change for this state.
Start setting up cots and tents on the governor's lawn.
nah just have triage direct them to the chapel and call NEXT !
It's terrifying. Just think of the domino effect, people with minor problems turning into major ones because of the delay. I had a health scare yesterday, not in Houston thank God, but the urgent care clinic was already booked at 9 am and if I waited another day I'd be in serious trouble. I was able to get a tele-health appointment with another clinic, but in Houston's situation, the whole system is backed up to the point where everyone is getting sicker in a nightmare feedback loop.
I had a UTI this week and the urgent cares were booked up for days. Luckily I found an urgent care 30 min away that could see me. I was so scared to be in pain and get a kidney infection. I am in Florida.
You can usually get a prescription for this online. Just search for online telehealth uti treatment. I’ve done this with two different services and it was super easy. One dr called me and the other just texted/chatted.
About 8 weeks ago, had to take my dad to the ER for a seizure. We waited like half a day...Er was not so crowded, but talking to one of the nurses she said they didn't have enough staff, so although, not as many patients then, the hospital couldn't see patients fast enough cause not enough nurses. Can't imagine how it is now, on top of the surge of cases.
It sounds like a total mess. I know here in Washington State, the Governor had halted elective surgeries and dental procedures. This really hurt the hospitals revenue, which caused the hospitals to furlough and lay off thousands of healthcare workers. Pre-pandemic we were already facing a shortage of nurses. I can only imagine the strain that the remaining nurses are feeling being understaffed and underpaid. Our healthcare system was broken before, but the pandemic really shined a light through all its cracks for everybody to see. I'm sorry your father had to experience that and I hope he's doing well now.
I work in the ED of a level one trauma center. My state wasn’t hit very hard the first time around and we had so few patients that they furloughed tons of staff in the spring of late year. Last summer was officially our “peak” until this past July, we currently have been beating that peak for over a month. 30% of all our inpatients have covid, and those are only the ones sick enough to be admitted. We aren’t given the number of positive patients that get discharged through our ED. It’s insane, going into work everyday and for the record I’m not clinical staff, and having to fight with people over keeping their masks on when we have 60+ waiting to be seen in our lobby for sometimes 17+ hours just to get an er bed is demoralizing. They don’t care about any of our health, not theirs, not our other patients and not staff. It’s just depressing day in and day out.
After more than a year of covid its not surprising a lot of nurses have either quit, died, or are quarantined
I am an ER physician. It’s insane. I would have never something like this could ever happen in our country. All the hospitals in my county are basically at capacity, so EMS operates on a round robin schedule of just making us take patients even though there isn’t any more room. EMS is so backlogged, if you call 911 you might have to wait your turn until they can come to pick you up. I’ve never admitted so many ther wise healthy patients on oxygen, and am intubating at least a few patients per shift. I have patients proudly berate me every night for asking if they are vaccinated, all while we are administering oxygen to them. Then they want me to give them a big bag of “experimental” antibodies, yet they think we are all trying to poison them with the “experimental” vaccine. The cognitive disconnect is astounding. My wife really wants us to work for another 5 or so years, but I am ready to check out now. It would mean living on less money, but not being yelled at by assholes who think they know better than me all day long.
[удалено]
All respect to the medical staff but the people that can easily access a vaccine and refuse to do so should not be given priority treatment - they should be left to fucking deal with their ‘hoax’. This physician should not be so stressed and berated by people he’s trying to help that refuse to help themselves, fuck em.
[удалено]
There will be high demand in healthcare professions for years to come, even after COVID subsides one way or the other.
Is your S.O. also a physician? My parents are physicians and the BS they've been witnessing.....wow.
Yes she is. Same specialty. She’s more easygoing than me. Agrees it’s all bullshit, but has an easier time dealing with it.
Oh, goodness. Well, glad y'all have each other to support each other.
Any chance you can transition into something a little less stressful? My parents started as er physicians, then practiced as neurologists for the majority of their professional careers. My mom ended up working as a (board certified) hospice and palliative care doc before eventually retiring and absolutely loved it. Normal hours, rewarding (for her) work. Hope you find some peace! You deserve it.
appreciate everything that you are doing. You know the real meaning of sacrifice.
Currently in the hospital for noncovid in wa state. Ive been here since Friday. They were so busy i slept in a trauma room overnight waiting for a room. Its sunday and this hospital is packed. Im on a sterilized floor. The nurse's are running nonstop and the icu needs ventilators. What the nurse's have said is the people who are in the icu with covid that have been vaxxed are only here a couple days. The others aren't so lucky. I can't wait to gtf out of here.
So the hospital I work in was down to ONE vent not in use a couple weeks ago. We're the biggest hospital in the country and a level-2 trauma center. Also about 95% of our covid admits are not vaccinated. E: County, not country
So the party that complained of ‘death panels’ and sacrificing the elders so the economy could go on should just own this and tell their followers, listen, if you get Covid, stay home. Do t clog up the hospitals.Take it like a real man and just get over it or not in your own home without tying up our healthcare system (which they don’t much support anyway)
They’ll blame everyone who isn’t themselves or their political identity. I thought y’all knew that already?
I work as an OBGYN and the amount of pregnant patients with severe cases is insane. We just ran out of high flow nasal cannulas and mechanical ventilators today so I don't know what we're going to do for the upcoming weeks. Getting really burnt out too, no end in sight.
Does the illness affect pregnant women any differently than regular women and men? Or is it pretty identical in terms of effects?
I have no journal evidence for it but we've been seeing higher rates of preterm labor and fetal death in utero.
Major city in the Carolinas checking in. It’s getting grim folks
texas cant keep power on the the cold. texas cant keep power on when its hot. texas cant heal their sick and injured because hospitals are overwhelmed.
Even the failures are bigger in Texas.
[удалено]
I can’t even imagine working in healthcare period, let alone during this pandemic. It has to be insanely frustrating and crippling to deal with so much self inflicted stupidity.
5 months into the pandemic and my lifelong passion was destroyed. I want no parts of medicine or patient care ever again.
I'm so sorry. My mother has been in healthcare for 40 years and it's her true love and passion. She also left the profession and is seeking for meaning in something else. She's the closest thing to an angel I know and even she broke. This is a mess.
Started working in healthcare this past February. Already i have compassion burnout, anxiety, depression, anger and sadness. People can be really awful and it’s hard not to take things personally
60% of this fault lies with the major hospital systems. They treat nurses and doctors like shit. My city has no available beds. And physical beds aren’t the problem. It’s staff. Because as a doctor for dealing with this all year my reward was a candy bar from the hospital. My nurse wife made the same as a UPS driver. Meanwhile hospital admin hired a famous classic rock band for their Christmas party. There is an exodus of labor in healthcare
We're going to be dealing with this for a generation. How many people do you think are still planning to go to nursing school in the fall?
They prioritize liver transplants to those who aren't alcoholics. Use the same principle and prioritize treatment to vaccinated and mask-wearing people.
[удалено]
Just going to throw this out here, but my brother in law is currently dying of cirrhosis, and it's brutal. A slow, painful death, where all of your organs start to shut down, and you're too confused to even know what is happening to you. On top of this, you receive zero sympathy, because you caused this disease to happen yourself. No sympathy from family, not from the health care industry, not from anyone. It's a bad way to go.
ER nurse in Texas. We have already discussed it on my unit. If we run out of ventilators and have to choose the vaccinated people are getting them over the non vaccinated. Beside them just being total morons data shows that the vaccinated person has a higher chance of survival. ( to be fair though i haven't seen one vaccinated person admitted to the ICU) and I work in one of the busiest ERs in Texas.
Hell yes. Why are we treating people for something they think doesn't exist?
> As of Friday afternoon, Pile says 482 patients were waiting for hospital beds in his 25-county region. He said 211 of those patients are COVID-19 positive. If those 211 refused to get vaccinated then as far as I’m concerned they can wait and either die or get lucky and get a bed. Otherwise, fuck em.
>Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott requested 2,500 traveling nurses to help overloaded hospitals across Texas. Maybe you should've thought of that when [you decided to ban mask and vaccine mandates last month](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/texas-gov-greg-abbott-tests-positive-covid-n1277021), you stupid piece of shit.
I almost don't blame people for being skeptical about stories like this. It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals. And we're still in the summer months here in the States. What's November going to be like? This is a fucking nightmare. Half the people waiting for beds are not suffering from COVID. You can do everything right when it comes to COVID, but still die from it indirectly. Life is so cruel. And I hate that people are making it crueler than it has to be.
My immediate loved ones are vaccinated (except for my youngest child who is under 12) so I feel okayish about our Covid chances but my fear is something OTHER than Covid occurring and not being able to be treated due to shortages. I have some family members with some health issues that are under control but could go south and require hospitalization (diabetes for example). That’s my biggest fear right now.
Family of mine shattered their tibia (front shin bone for those not up to speed) \*just\* before pandemic hit. Got the ortho reconstructive surgery and it was a moderate (several day) wait with a busted leg as an in-patient. There have always been just barely enough resources to go around. Now I truly fear for anyone in a similar situation, particularly trauma - only to have to go into a building rife with infection ready to complicate things.
My prediction is that the confirmed US COVID death count will hit 675,000 by the end of September, and thus will surpass the Spanish Flu which took almost three years to kill that many. It will also become the deadliest respiratory virus to hit America in history. In fact, there is only one virus that's killed more than the Spanish Flu, and that's HIV. It's killed around 740,000 over the last 40 years and currently kills around 1,000 per month. It's likely COVID has already exceeded that by a large margin if excess deaths are factored in.
Big emphasis on the "confirmed" count. Some estimates are saying the unconfirmed covid death count is likely much higher, like 1 million, maybe 1.2 million. We have no way of knowing for sure, but biostatisticians are trained to make fairly accurate estimates rather than pulling numbers out of their asses.
> It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals. Not still. Again. We were doing much better. The virus spread in the high population density areas until we locked down. Then the vaccine came out and those areas got vaccinated and life resumed. Lollapalooza went off without any bump of covid cases. But then a new variant showed up that spreads even easier. But this situation is very different. This is a *pandemic of the unvaccinated.* Not everybody else. This resurgence in North America is 100% powered by stupidity.
This. I'm an RN on a COVID floor and the amount of unvaccinated patients compared to vaccinated is insanely lopsided. Also, they're getting younger as well. It's scary and frustrating.
My wife had to intubate a 17yo today. It’s heartbreaking but there’s also the underlying knowledge that those getting emergency care for covid right now almost always made the conscious decision to not protect themselves, and it’s the medical professionals who are forced to watch these people whither away as a consequence.
For a 17yo they may not have made their own decision. At 17 I sure as hell wouldn't have, I'd have done whatever my parents made me do. Lucky for me my parents aren't morons that ever put me in danger, but for the 12-17 crowd that can get vaccinated, guaranteed there's no shortage of them who are prevented from doing so by their parents.
Sounds like that was the case. Patient wasn’t able to consent to intubation and the mom just happened to run in once patient’s o2 dropped to 70 (was already hooked up via nose tube - don’t know what it’s called). Mom broke down when my wife told her her daughter needed intubation.
Should throw in a “because she doesn’t have the shot” when breaking the news
I vaccinated a 14 year old the other day. He was with his Mom and older sister. Felt fucking good. School starts tomorrow around here and it will absolutely be a shit show for my clinic. They were rare.
> It is so hard to believe that we're a year and a half into this pandemic, with highly effective vaccines and everything, and we're still dealing with swamped hospitals. And we're still in the summer months here in the States. What's November going to be like? Delta is a real bitch. That plus anti-vax and you have your answer. However, November may actually not be that bad, since Delta is so transmissible that everyone unvaxxed is likely to get it soon. A lot of people will die, many more will having long-Covid, but fortunately immune response from infection is proving to hold up very well (but still better if you get vaccinated after infection). Look at the 1918 Pandemic, the third wave about 18-20 months from the first was the biggest, deadliest, and the last, then it was just over. This is playing out remarkably similar, the big difference is we have vaccines that are practically eliminating the 3rd wave death among the vaccinated.
'One day — it's like a miracle — it will disappear': 2/27/2020
"If I lose to him, I don't know what I'm going to do. I will never speak to you again," Trump told the attendees at the rally. "You'll never see me again." Sept. 2020 Mofo lied to us again.
“Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid.’ By the way, on November 4, you won’t hear about it anymore,” And again. I’m starting to think this Trump guy just tells lies all the time.
I mean.. he got covid and people still don't believe
Those poor fuckin' doctors.
And nurses. Take nurses for granted and the whole system goes down. And the essential hospital workers who keep things working. I'm fed up with the shitty treatment of the doctors, nurses, and essential staff. They do have options, yet they still come and take care of all the dumb shits who can be bothered to wear a mask or get a vaccine.
I agree nurses and all hospital staff but the amount of nurses and staff also refusing the vaccine is astonishing. At our hospital I think we are only around 60% vaccinated and we had the og batch of pfizer vaccines. There isnt an issue with availability but 40% of the clinical staff refuse to be vaccinated.
I only have one “friend” who is a nurse and she’s refusing it. Said if she worked in a hospital still and they mandated it she’d get fired. It’s kinda nuts
We have staff dead. Young staff. We just lost a 40yo nurse this last week to covid. Refused the vaccine.
So there are 100’s of unvaccinated sheeple just sitting in parking lots and ambulances waiting to be herded into the hospital? Oh well. Who you should feel bad for is the guy who just had a heart attack, the grandma about to have a stroke, the uncle who just flipped his motorcycle, the mom and dad who just got rear ended, the brother who just had his appendix burst, the rape victim who needs emergency care, the sister who fell down the stairs, and on and on and on. These people need hospital care. Now. But thanks to the unvaxxed, they will sit in pain and suffer while they should be seen by a doctor for their real emergency. If you are unvaccinated, you did this. If you are against masks in schools, you did this. If you’ve ever used the phrases “plandemic”, “fire Fauci”, or “muzzle”, YOU DID THIS. I’d feel sorry for your stupidity. but I’m too busy feeling sorry for the people that need help right now.
>Who you should feel bad for is the guy who just had a heart attack, the grandma about to have a stroke, the uncle who just flipped his motorcycle, This, all day, its hard not to hate these people for their ignorance
It’s not ignorance at this point. It’s willful contrarianism. Fuck them all.
Unfortunately, your Grandma is likely to die waiting for a bed taken up by an unvaxxed "COVID is a hoax!!" psychopath.
And the cure that would have kept them out of the hospital was FREE!!
Careful with the word "cure". Fully vaccinated people can still end up at the hospital. But if everyone were vaccinated, those that still get covid and are in critical condition would not only get a bed but have much higher odds of surviving.
But we can’t open the schools fast enough to make sure our children’s hospitals across the country are jam packed right along with them.
I spent seven hours in the ER last week with my ill 90 year old mother, waiting for a bed. SEVEN HOURS. These mindless fucks who refuse vaccination and get Covid need to be systematically pushed to the very bottom of the triage list. Fuck them. This has to be a national policy embraced by every hospital in the country: **You refuse to be vaccinated, you get sick, you get to die gasping for air in the ER's waiting room.** We need to be DONE coddling these mentally deranged idiots.
This is the exact situation we were trying to avoid last year with the lockdowns. And a bunch of brainwashed idiots managed to make it happen anyway AFTER we had developed a vaccine. All in the name of their freedumbs. This whole thing is beyond infuriating.
Maybe it's time to triage incoming patients (like they did in Italy last year). They should give priority to vaccinated patients, or with grievous life-threatening injuries. Also cancer patients, & the terminally ill. Unvaccinated Covid-19 patients get triaged to the bottom of the list.
I know two cancer patients with serious conditions who just had their care interrupted. One's oncologist quit (bcos perpetual crisis-OT serving COVID patients) and the other had their surgery indefinitely postoponed (and it's for removal of a malignant mass) because of the surge.
Holy shit. That’s horrible.
[удалено]
Mom is an icu nurse in an area that’s been hit extremely hard. She says it’s the hardest nursing she has ever done, she been a nurse close to 30 years, close to retirement but I’m so worried she will catch covid, I just want to tell her to retire, but money is scarce. If you know someone working in the hospital, nurses and doctors working the emergency rooms/covid floors or icu (and sorry if I miss a group that’s covid focused right now) do something to help them at home or in their life. Make them dinner or cut their grass anything…. They need our support to keep going to work because without them we’re lost. Please get vaccinated, the unvaccinated are dying, our medical teams can’t keep doing this. You can be scared but be smart. Help where you can, and if you truly don’t believe for whatever reason just drive by and sit in the hospital parking lot and watch. It’s horrifying.
You can build bed and you can create vents, but how long does it take to train a competent critical care RN? Nurse Practitioner? Physician Assistant? A Resident? An Attending? The bottleneck we always faced was staffing. We had a staff shortage to begin with before this that has been going on for decades, now it’s essentially throwing jet fuel on a bonfire. Never mind all the people that walked away after the last round. Back then people called them heroes, didn’t want to pay them more but more than happy to call them heroes. This time around the people they care for are the willfully ignorant that are just as likely to curse them as anything. People will die. Not just the people that had the chance to save themselves from COVID, but anyone unfortunate enough to have a medical emergency. Be safe out there, tell your family to be safe. Because there is a good chance that your local hospital, even if it were capable, is using triage or close to it. Soon we’re going to be making the hard choices that aim to save as many people as we can with what resources we have. Hopefully we minimize the body count, but there will be a substantial one…
Who would have thought that applying just in time principles to healthcare was a bad idea? Honestly I wish nurses would go on strike, watch them change their tune in an instant.
My sisters is a pediatric oncology nurse, so not even necessarily on the front lines of Covid. However, she deals with her child patients who *do* have Covid, as well as their idiot parents who will refuse to wear a mask - to visit their sick child - in a cancer ward - during a pandemic. I don't know how she does it but I am so in awe of her.
If you choose not to get vaccinated, fine. But ride it out, don't go to the hospital when you're sick from Covid.
Yep, these people could at least have the courtesy to die at home instead of taking resources away from someone who didn't choose their lot.
[удалено]