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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,120
Registered: ‎03-29-2019

What's Happening to the Other Patients?

Amid this crisis, I haven't heard the news talk about the other patients that hospitals get.

 

What's happening to those who have heart attacks, strokes, auto accident victims?

 

 

I hope that their care hasn't been lessened because doctors and nurses are overwhelmed with Corona patients.

 

I also think about the secondary victims of the virus.

 

 

By that, I mean, those who have undiagnosed cancer now, that could be treated at an early stage, but isn't, because of the virus.

 

Are dialysis patients still getting their treatments?

 

 

There is such a ripple effect from this virus, and my heart goes out to everyone who is affected by it, whether directly, or indirectly.

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,660
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

@Anonymous032819 -

I was thinking of that today tooSmiley Sad

"If you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew. Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains? can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,441
Registered: ‎11-15-2011

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

The Comfort will not house Coronavirus patients.  I believe it will be used for other needing hospital care that don't have the virus.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 26,549
Registered: ‎12-17-2012

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

Our hospitals are seeing patients as planned for treatments and emergencies.  The staff has made changes to "secure" safely for all and a lot people are cancelling appts. and rescheduling based on their circumstances.  

 

I went this week and it was eerie how silent it seemed and everyone was cheerful, keeping distance and getting their jobs done.  They are just worried about their patients, as well themselves.  

Fate whispers to her, "You cannot withstand the storm." She whispers back, "I am the storm."

Honored Contributor
Posts: 12,846
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

I've wondered about this too.  I don't work in the medical field and so I don't really know what's going on locally but I would think that the most seriously ill patients that are not corona are still being seen.

 

However it's those who would normally go see a dcotor with concerning symptoms and need testing who might not be doing so depending on the virus outbreak in the area right now.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

Most hospitals have contingency plans for things like epidemics or natural disasters where they can use nearby hotels, convention centers, etc. as emergency hospital beds. They hope they never have to use those plans, but they're about as ready as they can be. Staffing becomes an issue, but by and large, the medical community rallies around a disaster and things turn out okay. Doctors and nurses who were retired will come back out of retirement to help out. Med students and nursing students get thrust into action. Things that can wait like joint replacement surgeries and the sort, get delayed, but by and large, the things that need to be taken care of get taken care of.

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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,327
Registered: ‎05-09-2016

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

[ Edited ]

The overwhelming majority (at last count it was about 89%) of the COVID-19 patients in Michigan are confined to 3 counties in the metro Detroit area. Those hospitals are overwhelmed. Although I generally think that the state government is doing a decent job of managing things, someone had the boneheaded idea that they should start transferring those patients to other hospitals in the state!  Why on earth would you start spreading deathly ill patients around and potentially expose thousands of others?  So far, every hospital in the far lesser affected areas of the state has said "absolutely NO". They WILL take transfers of patients WITHOUT the virus to help free up acute care beds in the affected area, which is entirely reasonable. So, in SOME cases, patients who are sick enough to be hospitalized but don't have COVID-19 could potentially be transferred to another hospital 150 miles away. 

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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,992
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

My aunt was admitted to a local hospital last week for another reason.  When she was admitted, both she and my cousin (who was driving her) were tested for Covid-19 in the hospital's foyer and waited 20 minutes for test results before they were allowed to enter the hospital.  While they were waiting for results, they had to stand in a taped off area about 4-ft square and told not to touch anything.

 

On her first day in the hospital, the hospital was having locks installed on all closets and nursing stations because visitors had been stealing boxes of masks, gloves, etc.  On my aunt's second day in the hospital, they banned all visitors, and my cousin was not allowed to enter the hospital again to visit.   On the 4th day when my aunt was discharged, my cousin was again stopped at the hospital foyer by a security guard - he was tested again and waited for results again.  Then he was escorted by a security guard up to my aunt's room -- then they were escorted out of the hospital out to their car by a security guard.

 

My cousin said it must be what it's like to be in prison.

* A woman is like a tea bag. You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. *
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,355
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

I live in a borough of NYC and it is usually very quiet. Last night as we were trying to wind down and go to sleep, we heard sirens at least 2x/hr. almost all night. It is very scary. My friends who work in the ER of one of our hospitals says its crazy but handleable up to a point. Who knows what this new day will bring? Despite some's 'feelings', NYC NEEDS ventilatiors to save lives. 


'I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man'.......Unknown
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,373
Registered: ‎04-04-2015

Re: What's Happening to the Other Patients?

[ Edited ]

That is an excellent question.  With the panic the media and others have created, hospitals are being overwhelmed with people demanding testing - even the NYT video of the ER doctor talking about how bad everything is in the hospital in Queens at the heart of the outbreak there, said that the ER was innundated with people demanding testing which was making it so much harder to treat actual sick people and determine who needed to be hospitalized.  They were trying to keep those wanting testing outside in tents, but it wasn't working well. 

 

Additionally people who are sick - but not sick enough really to be hospitalized are also flooding ERs because they are afraid their illness will progress and there won't be "enough doctors or beds" for them.

 

I know several people who had elective surgery postponed indefinitely.  I've read that it is difficult for folks needing chemo treatments.  In fact, according to Biden who said  - in his interview on the View  -  his Biden Cancer Initiative is calling people who can't get chemo and trying to comfort them.