Covid-19, I'm not a fan.

[kpete]

From: Mary Glas Gaspers FB

I graduated from Georgetown Medical School in 2002 and have been taking care of children since that time. I specialized in pediatric critical care medicine. I care for the sickest of children up to age 21.

Until covid-19 arrived, I had not cared for adults since 2002. I now work in Arizona where we have been making news recently for the surge in cases. Fortunately, children worldwide are mostly ok with this virus. Some have become ill and died, though not in the same numbers that are affecting adults. So my Adult Critical Care colleagues are seeing the bulk of the disease right now. I do expect a surge of children getting sick here in a couple weeks, like they saw in NYC. For now, the adult ICU beds are filled and the doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, pharmacists, PT, OT, Speech therapy, Social work, dieticians, patient care assistants, housekeepers, culinary team, laundry facility, blood bank, etc are all overworked, stressed and being asked to work harder and longer hours every week as this pandemic rolls on.

ICU patients are spilling out to the regular floors.

So my colleagues and I in pediatrics are taking care of adults now. All over the country, because of the surge in ill patients, it’s becoming necessary for people to step out of their comfort zone and practice medical or nursing care that they have no recent training or experience with.

And the patients are pretty sick. When an ICU doctor says someone is pretty sick, that means it’s bad. Some of the patients didn’t believe that covid was real until getting it themselves.

I have a relative discomfort in taking care of patients older than my usual. I can manage very well with the ventilator and the sedation, the tube feedings and the central lines and medicines for their low blood pressure and anticoagulation for their clots. So mostly I’m ok with this current shift in my practice. But I didn’t train in internal medicine. So I have to read and learn and ask the adult docs what I’m not thinking about. I Imagine it might be like a preschool teacher suddenly teaching high school or college. Or like a small animal veterinarian suddenly taking care of zebras and giraffes. The principles of teaching or animal care may be the same, but the details and approach will change.

There is definitely a high risk category for critical illness among men, those with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, lung disease, and among those who are Hispanic/Native American/Black. But I’ve also cared for young children, teenagers and muscular young Caucasian men with critical illness and COVID-19. No age group has been spared.

We all know that if we get sick from taking care of patients with covid-19, there’s limited space and resources for our own medical care. So we wear a reused N95, additional mask, face shield, gown, hat, and gloves. We wash our hands often and don’t touch our face. We can’t gather together for snack breaks or coffee since we wear a mask for the entire 12 hour (or longer) shift.

Patients can’t have visitors except for one hour when they are about to die, so they have FaceTime/video chats if they are able, maybe once a day, when the team has time to make that happen.

Even when patients survive, there’s strokes, renal failure, blood clots, ongoing lung disease and oxygen requirement, and need for rehab services due to muscle weakness.

We - your healthcare teams- are tired. We are frustrated by the reluctance by some to “believe in” Covid-19 and reluctance to listen to the evolving science that is coming to light. Despite this, We will continue to go to work and provide the best possible care, putting ourselves on the line and leaving our families to worry about us.

There are simple things that the public can do in order to stop this madness. To stop the disease and death. The 130,000+ deaths are already too many. We need to stop this trend.

Mask, hand wash, social distance. Focus on the public health and not on the politics. Listen to the scientists.

I am a Catholic White married physician and mother of 3. I believe in God. I believe that God created us and gave us brains and talents and the ability to reason and choose. Scientists have studied and evaluated all aspects of this incredible human body and know how the body responds to illness. Since this is a new infection, we have had a lot to learn. Thank God, We are learning. We are gathering data and evaluating what treatments are and are not effective.

At first, there wasn’t good evidence about how the illness was transmitted and if that transmission could be reduced/prevented by the use of masks. Now we know it can. Masks can help. Testing and contact tracing will give even more information about this illness.

Even my kids know the golden rule- treat others as you would be treated. Love your neighbor as yourself. Right now, that means the responsible, the patriotic, the healthy, the neighborly thing to do is to follow the advice of our public health experts and wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands. I believe in this country and I believe we can do this if we work together.

I will wear a mask for you. Will you please wear a mask for me? For your family? For your neighbor?
MaskUpUSA
MaskUpAZ
https://www.facebook.com/groups/marchforscience/permalink/2797385280545291ttps://www.facebook.com/mary.gaspers/posts/10157595050023806

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Thanks for posting this story. Stop this madness is indeed correct. One day it'll stop but I don't

know what's it going to take. I suspect that mask use in the major cities are for the most part, aok, but in the rural areas, and in other places where the trump freaks live, they're not going to step up and do the right thing, for in their mind (and mind you, it's only in their minds and no one else's mind), they're doing the right thing, despite the fact that it's going to probably contribute to them getting sick and / or perhaps die.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Angry when I put on a mask to go out and see others who

won't/don't/refuse to, wear a mask for me and others. And please pull up your mask from under your nose. 😷