Concerned with Hospital Prepareness

[geist1223]

I am concerned with how prepared our local Hospitals are to handle the influx of Coronavirus Patients. Patti's sister is a Nurse at a Hospital in Vancouver Washington. The Hospital does not have sufficient N95 Masks and other equipment for the Staff. So only the Charge Nurse in each Unit/Floor is properly equipped. Yet all the Staff are interacting and dealing with Patients. Some of which are developing symptoms.

 

[Panina]

I got notices from my local hospital they are prepared. Hopefully they are.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

I am concerned with how prepared our local Hospitals are to handle the influx of Coronavirus Patients. Patti's sister is a Nurse at a Hospital in Vancouver Washington. The Hospital does not have sufficient N95 Masks and other equipment for the Staff. ......Yet all the Staff are interacting and dealing with Patients. Some of which are developing symptoms.

The Hospital will inevitably have staffing shortages due to 14 day quarantine requirement for those who get sick with Covid 19.

Toronto area went through this 17 years ago with SARS / Nurses & staff became sick and spread SARS to others .
[ added - eventually - the hospitals & public health got it right - and spreading stopped ]

FYI - you can sew your own “self contamination” mask

- that will protect anyone from touching their own nose and mouth . A modified wash cloth & string will likely work . Take a look at pictures from the Spanish Flu 1918-19. That is what people used for protection .

 

[geekette]

The best we all can do is stay healthy as long as possible and then have some optimism that if you need treatment, you will get it. We have a lot of hospitals here so there are choices, and I think if we got to the stuffed to the gills situation, local media would be on it, telling us which are accepting patients.

The most important thing is to not clog the process if you haven't progressed into serious sickness. I think it is quite likely that I will get it, not need medical attention, and be part of herd immunity. If at that time there is simple testing, I'll do it just to know and to be counted. Otherwise, being generally healthy, I will stay out of the way.

 

[MULTIZ321]

Hospital bed shortages amid COVID-19 expose the deadly cost of a lack of vision.

Opinion: Hospital bed shortages amid COVID-19 expose the deadly cost of a lack of vision

Governments had their chance to fight pandemics through investing in intensive-care beds, years ago. But even as the coronavirus rages on, it’s not too late to change their ways

www.theglobeandmail.com

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

As The Pandemic Spreads, Will There Be Enough Ventilators?

As The Pandemic Spreads, Will There Be Enough Ventilators?

In severe cases of COVID-19, as lungs become inflamed, membranes that transfer oxygen into the blood can become blocked. Some hospitalized patients need mechanical breathing support to recover.

www.npr.org

.


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DELIVERS A FRACTION OF NEW JERSEY'S REQUESTS FOR MEDICAL
EQUIPMENT - AND NO VENTlIATORS.

Federal Government Delivers a Fraction of New Jersey’s Requests for Medical Equipment — and No Ventilators

The state asked for 1,065 ventilators, which it said would amount to 15 each for New Jersey’s 71 hospitals. None are yet marked as shipped.

theintercept.com

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Ventilator Maker: We Can Ramp Up Production
Five-Fold - Forbes.

Ventilator Maker: We Can Ramp Up Production Five-Fold

The U.S. could be on a crash course of increasing ICU capacity--if it had the will.

www.forbes.com

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

A Top Cancer Hospital Faces Mask Shortages As COVID 19 Cases Show Up in Staff And Patients

A Top Cancer Hospital Faces Mask Shortages As COVID-19 Cases Show Up In Staff And Patients

According to internal emails and a transcript of a staff meeting, at least three patients and five staff members have been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The hospital has a one-week supply of masks. Other hospitals around the country are facing similar circumstances.

www.buzzfeednews.com

Richard

 

[geekette]

I'd like to see someone put out a call for mask hoarders to drop them off at hospitals. Those guys in TN that bought all the sanitizer also had masks of various kinds. I hope if Amazon has noticed other listings of lots of masks, that they remove the ad, call the cops, masks confiscated and taken to health care workers.

I am deeply concerned for our front line workers.

 

[turkel]

At the hospital I work at I was told we have plenty. They are under lock and key .

 

[CaliSunshine]

We need the Army Corps of Engineers to step in. We need the administration to coordinate the distribution of supplies. That's clear now and will be even clearer in 2-4 weeks.

 

[MULTIZ321]

These Good Samaritans with a 3D printer are saving lives by making new respirator valves for free

These Good Samaritans with a 3D printer are saving lives by making new respirator valves for free

As Italy’s hospitals have run out of equipment, one hospital is making its own using 3D printers and local expertise.

www.fastcompany.com

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

Are U.S. Hospitals Ready?

Are U.S. Hospitals Ready?

Here's what it will take for medical facilities across the nation to handle the coming surge of COVID-19 patients.

www.npr.org

.


Richard

 

[Ski-Dad]

Our local hospital (Canada) is "decanting beds". I have worked in healthcare labour relations for years and had never heard that term. In essence they are doing everything reasonable to clear bed spaces by discharging patients to nursing homes or home and canceling elective surgeries to keep beds available. They normally run at close to 100% bed capacity, and their goal to to clear empty 25% of their bed space in case they need it.

 

[rickandcindy23]

A 3D printer is at work in Italy as we speak, making valves that were in short supply in Italy hospitals. That is incredible to me. Sounds like a way to make other things that hospitals need. Maybe that will be a new business that will come of this disaster.

 

[MULTIZ321]

U.S. Navy Hospital Ships To Deploy To New York,
West Coast : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR.

U.S. Navy Hospital Ships To Deploy To New York, West Coast

The pair of ships, the USNS Comfort and the USNS Mercy, will help local medical workers grapple with an influx of patients. But it remains unclear precisely when they will be ready to go.

www.npr.org

.


Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

We need more ventilators. Here's what it will take to get them.

We need more ventilators. Here’s what it will take to get them.

Manufacturers need fast-track regulatory approvals and government contracts. STAT.

www.technologyreview.com

Richard

 

[MULTIZ321]

App predicts hospital capacity.

Tool to help decision-makers during the coronavirus outbreak

Harvard’s Global Health Institute puts its research expertise into motion, helping hospitals assess capacity and quality of care so they can prepare for COVID-19 patients appropriately.

news.harvard.edu

Richard

 

[geekette]

A 3D printer is at work in Italy as we speak, making valves that were in short supply in Italy hospitals. That is incredible to me. Sounds like a way to make other things that hospitals need. Maybe that will be a new business that will come of this disaster.

heck, I'd join our war effort on that. I could print all day every day, here at home, if someone else bought the printers and "ink".

 

[pedro47]

Before the Coronavirus there were a shortages of physicians, RN Nurses and hospital beds. Please explain now, how hospital are ready and prepared for this Coronavirus?

 

[pedro47]

Question. Does anyone feel rural hospitals, physicians and nurses are ready and prepared for the Coronavirus ? IMHO. No.

 

[JanT]

I honestly cannot understand how our country is so ill-prepared for a pandemic. We're so much more technologically advanced than ever and should have been looking at the future with an eye for something of this magnitude. I'm not blaming any one government administration - all of them failed in not ensuring our country was prepared.

Hospital bed shortages amid COVID-19 expose the deadly cost of a lack of vision.

Opinion: Hospital bed shortages amid COVID-19 expose the deadly cost of a lack of vision

Governments had their chance to fight pandemics through investing in intensive-care beds, years ago. But even as the coronavirus rages on, it’s not too late to change their ways

www.theglobeandmail.com

Richard

 

[geekette]

Question. Does anyone feel rural hospitals, physicians and nurses are ready and prepared for the Coronavirus ? IMHO. No.

What rural hospitals? Folks in our outlying cities will be coming to the big city.

 

[heckp]

We need the cooperation of everybody to slow down the transmission so that healthcare can keep up. We can't all be sick all at once, if we do, of course healthcare system can't accommodate everyone. A lot of people think it's overblown but if you look at Italy's situation, that is what we don't want to happen. Today, they have around 5300 new cases and 41000 total cases. Today only, USA registered 4606 new cases. I think we should take this seriously rather than be nonchalant about it.