- The heart rate has been on its way up, up, up.
- That's actually the same or better than yesterday.
- Oh, really? She's 105 consistently.
- I mean, it's very easy to make
an argument to intubate this woman.
Really needed to intubate this woman a week ago.
It's just that -- Look, if she gets a vent,
I don't know that her mortality is honestly
any better than what her mortality is now.
- I think everybody's in agreement, right?
Almost 100% likelihood she will die from this.
- Yeah. - So now it's just how
to best support her and her family through it.
- We all, having gone through this for close to two years,
were hopeful that the rollout of the vaccine
was gonna help end this pandemic.
And locally because of our local high vaccination rates,
and we're fortunate to be in the metro DC/Maryland area,
where vaccination rates are high,
we felt the benefits of that.
And we went down to zero COVID patients.
And I think our window is closing.
Although we knew deep down
that it probably wasn't gonna last forever,
when that first patient came into ICU
and needed to be intubated in the vaccine era,
it was like a gut punch for all of us.
When you do everything you can to not put them on a ventilator
and then they go on a ventilator, oh, man.
The proportion of those people that survive this disease
is extraordinarily low.
And what usually is a kind of lively hustle and bustle
to get a patient intubated and stabilized
was more of a quiet, solemn ceremony.
And having gone through something like that
the first and second time --
You never want to go through anything like that.
And I think that's what's important for people to realize,
is the toll that it's taking on society for sure,
but the disproportionate toll it's taking
on the healthcare providers and the hospital.
The vaccination, all modalities of the vaccine
are our way out of this.
You went to see somebody.
- Yeah, they were hypertensive.
Gave them some fluids. - Okay.
Not us, though.
That having been said, we understand people's choices,
but the choices have to be based on data and science and reality.
And I think that's the frustration
that healthcare providers are having right now,
is seeing suffering when it doesn't have to be.
Hi.
Remember me?
You're looking more tired.
You know, the safest thing for you now
is to be put to sleep and put on the ventilator.
When faced with the sensation of air hunger and potential death,
it's natural for the mind to go to the what-ifs.
And the obvious first what-if is,
"What if I got the vaccine?
What if I didn't have to think about leaving my son
or daughter or wife or husband to fend for themselves?"
And that's the reality that we all see.
And it's easy to have opinions about something
until you've seen that and seen that in people's faces.
I know you don't want the ventilator,
but, I mean, what if it was ventilator or death?
If it meant saving your life, would you want the ventilator?
I think this has to get back to being what it is,
and that's a health crisis.
It's not about anything more than that.
It's not about who you are or where you're from
or what you believe in or what you don't believe in.
This is a health crisis.
And there's ways to deal with it.
When you look at it for what it is,
the only thing left to do is come together and defeat it.
I think that's what's tough about this --
So many lessons learned, yet we're in the same spot.
All the experience, all the surges,
it doesn't even matter at this point.
It's just, we're in the same spot.