[Reporter] It's now full.
Technically the ICU at Humber River is overcapacity.
Younger, sicker and just more patients than they've seen before
but they're making do.
No more panic over supplies of PPE.
They have it.
And for some of the sickest
there are now options.
Steroids, newly approved Remdesivir.
The 60-year-old man on a ventilator needs all of it.
[Doctor] He rapidly declined within a couple of days of coming into hospital
and went from needing high-flow oxygen to
within 12 hours needing to be intubated and ventilated.
So he was quite sick
and he doesn't have any other medical histories that we're aware of.
[Reporter] To give his lungs a chance
they turn him onto his stomach to help distribute oxygen.
They're doing this more often now.
COVID's teachings are daily.
Now the hospital's ER lead on the COVID response
Dr. Tasleem Nimjee was at the sharpest end of the crisis in the first wave.
Does this make you nervous this moment?
[Dr. Nimjee] Yeah, it's a very stressful moment.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous
[Reporter] Then, when we first watched her
COVID was new, a bit mysterious, so fear raged.
With time, there's less anxiety
but now, a crushing fatigue.
[Man] We'll start the case with everyone out of the room
as if like EMS just brought him in.
[Reporter] That's partly why they instituted regular drills in the Er.
Always with COVID in mind.
[Man] We need to react to it the way we would normally.
[Reporter] Keeps everyone alert
because everything is harder now.
[Dr. Nimjee] Just your tank is empty.
So you keep trying to muster up some of that energy that you had
the first time around
and it's harder this time
and the challenge is that the onslaught has already begun
and we're seeing a lot of people that are quite sick.
People that are needing us to intervene
and do some of those procedures that we know are risky
riskier
and so it demands more of us.
[Reporter] This day, Dr. Nimjee gets called to see a woman
who might not understand she has the virus.
[Dr. Nimjee] So do you understand that you have COVID?
[Woman] I don't know.
[Dr. Nimjee] I'm going to use the computer to help us translate a little bit.
Your COVID test was positive.
Do you know that?
[Woman] Yeah.
You understand?
[Woman] Yeah.
[Dr. Nimjee] OK, your headache and your cough
so all that is coming from your COVID infection.
[Reporter] The language barrier is a problem and not the only one.
[Dr. Nimjee] Can you tell me right now about your living situation.
[Woman] I am a single, OK.
[Dr. Nimjee] Do you have a place to live?
- [Woman] To live? - [Dr. Nimjee] Yeah
[Woman] Sometimes sleep, sometimes no sleep, I don't know.
[Dr. Nimjee] You need help to have a place to live
is that right?
[Woman] Yeah.
[Reporter] This woman doesn't want her identity revealed.
Is afraid of being shunned for being sick.
It seems she had to leave the home where she was staying
when she became symptomatic.
[Woman] Yeah, now I don't know where to go.
Where, where, where?
I don't know.
[Dr. Nimjee] You don't know where to go.
[Woman] I'm very tired.
Yeah, very tired, OK.
[Reporter] Beyond treating her, Dr. Nimjee now has to help find her a shelter hotel
where she can isolate and recover safely.
[Woman] No money, no money.
[Dr. Nimjee] No money, you don't have to pay
so that you can stay somewhere safe.
[Woman] Yeah.
[Dr. Nimjee] You can sleep there
and there is a doctor there.
[Woman] Yeah OK thank you.
[Dr. Nimjee] OK?
[Woman] Yeah, thank you very much.
[Dr. Nimjee] You're welcome, you're welcome.
[Reporter] She leaves her to sleep
with fluids and something for her fever.
As much as the whole world is talking about COVID
curiously they see a lot of denial in their patients.
There are some people that that don't truly think COVID will affect them.
They're shocked.
Some of them still kind of in disbelief.
Some of them still not really understanding what the implications are
to those that were exposed to them during that time period that they were symptomatic.
[Reporter] as COVID courses through communities
it doesn't spare the hospital.
So staff in the hospital are sick with COVID?
They are, absolutely, there are staff in the hospital.
In every hospital that have COVID
and so that means they can't work of course right
and so that's a huge issue for us
is that you might have a bed
but that bed has to be staffed.
[Reporter] They're trying to show up
to keep spirits up.
Sometimes the patient's stories help.
His does.
Gilbert Ramos, an airport worker in his 40s.
Healthy until he wasn't.
Those tubes in his neck, part of his now daily dialysis.
Sitting there, you wouldn't know COVID nearly killed him.
It all started with feeling off one day.
I called my manager not to come
but I don't tell them that I'm not feeling well or sick
because you know if they know that they are sick or like that
then they think that you have the COVID-19 so.
Were you afraid that you'd lose your job or?
Yes of course
because that's the only thing that my
my financial source.
[Reporter] Days later, short of breath
he and his wife came to the hospital.
Almost immediately he started vomiting blood.
You must have been terrified to -- ?
Yes, so all the nurses just like they were all terrified.
They are nervous.
They are screaming because it's just like I'm vomiting blood already.
So that is the last time I remember.
[Reporter] He doesn't remember being transferred to another hospital
to be put on life support.
A serious step above ventilation.
A last resort really.
He vaguely remembers being back in Humber's ICU
but he definitely remembers the hallucinations.
There's some people around me
that just wants to get me.
Really?
Yes
and then but I'm still like
feel like no I can't do it
because there's two things that came to my mind
to fight or to give up
but I realized I have family that is waiting for me.
That's why I have to fight.
But was it close to give up?
Like were you close?
Yes, I already think about it
it's just like I'm tired already.
I'm tired.
No more.
It's OK, yes.
[Reporter] He is recovering but like a lot of younger patients
COVID ravaged his kidneys.
He now fears being shamed for having it.
So it's really hard for me.
So the adjustment now for me
is how to adjust to deal with people.
You think people will be afraid of you or treat you differently?
That's going to be my worries, yeah,
[Reporter] Back in the ER a bit of good news for the older woman.
The hospital has found her a shelter hotel to stay
with a doctor on-site.
[Dr. Nimjee] Feeling OK?
[Woman] Yeah.
[Dr. Nimjee] OK, you don't need any pill, OK?
[Reporter] Her fever's down, breathing better.
There's hope she'll heal with rest.
So she's on her way.
A school bus, her transportation to the shelter.
They're all trying hard to be hopeful and energetic.
It's tough.
Which is why when there's a hint of something amazing
they're all in.
We get called back to the hospital a few days later
because there's good news for Gilbert.
He's going home
33 days after arriving
after being put on life support.
He's changed.
Still healing, but this is remarkable.
[Crowd cheers, applauds]
[Staff member] You can come back and visit, but not as a patient.
[Laughter]
And for an exhausted hospital staff who need something to celebrate
this is a really good day.