- [ Indistinct talking over cellphone ] -Hey.
So, one of the interns has called me,
and she's concerned that she's been exposed to COVID
from a patient today.
She said that they were doing breathing treatments
and CPAP on the patient.
She did have her N95 and gloves on,
but she didn't have her eye protection on.
The very beginning of COVID, everyone was scared
because we didn't know what was going on.
We were concerned that we didn't have the appropriate
PPE, the personal protective equipment, that we needed,
and there was just a lot of unknowns,
and we didn't know if we were gonna get sick,
and if we got sick,
what that was gonna do to us or our family.
So, I mean, it was scary.
So, it says this patient's unconscious,
and I don't have any ALS to send,
which means I don't have any paramedics to send.
So, we're gonna go over there and see how bad the patient is,
and we'll have to provide care if we need to.
And then, everyone thought we were getting better,
and then this Delta wave hit,
and it's just been terrible ever since.
For this last wave so far of the coronavirus,
it has just been worse than it was before.
We've seen a lot more patients, whereas at the beginning,
we did have an X amount of patients,
but they weren't sick like they are now.
We're seeing multiple people with the COVID pneumonia.
We're seeing lots of people that have actually gone
to the emergency room or to their doctor.
They've tested positive and/or they've been diagnosed
with the pneumonia.
A day or two later, they're just struggling to breathe.
And we're having to either intubate them or do CPAP
or do other procedures on them to try to get them stabilized
to get them to the hospital alive.
While he's getting situated, we need an O2 tank.
That way, he can go into the hospital.
We've also seen an uptick in the cardiac arrests
that have also been COVID positive as well,
where we didn't see as many of that
as before in the first wave.
- Can you ventilate him a little bit faster?
I want to see if I can get that cardiography to come down any.
- We know that sometimes,
when we have to intubate someone in the field,
they may or may not come off the ventilator
once they get to the hospital.
So, it weighs heavily on us that we have to do that,
thinking that they may not ever wake up
or they may perish while they're on the ventilator.
Resuscitative arrests have to go to a cath lab, remember.
- I know.
- Fortunately, we kind of know what we're doing,
since we've already lived through it for this long.
We're more skilled at being better protected,
at using our critical thinking
and knowing exactly what we're doing and how we're handling it.
- EMS One. - Go ahead.
- But the thing that we're having trouble with
is handling the sheer amount of people
that we're seeing on a daily basis.
Yes, we're good. It's stressful.
All of our volunteers, all of our career staff --
they're working to the max.
They are going to the hospital, dropping their patient off,
and then having to leave just to go get another one.
Alright.
Look, we're gonna get you on the stretcher
and get you over to the hospital, okay?
And I'm not saying that it's purely COVID
that is affecting us.
You know, we've had the typical medical calls,
the heart attacks, the strokes, the accidents.
But with all the COVID cases on top of it,
it's running us really thin, so...
Did he have a medicine list in here, too?
Morale is low, stress is high.
Do you know what medicine he takes?
As far as people's home lives,
they're scared of taking it home.
I am scared of taking it home to my family.
I haven't seen my family since 2019 at Christmas,
and then the virus hit, so I've avoided them.
My husband has also avoided his family.
So, we haven't seen our family in quite some time,
and it's just stressful.
I worry that I'm gonna come home not knowing that I am infected,
and he'll potentially become infected.
We are both vaccinated, but it's still scary to know
that we could still contract the virus,
and it could still potentially have long-term effects.
He told me his head was killing him.
- I believe it.
- Frustrations are rather high.
We're overrun.
We're stressed out.
We're overworked.
We just need people to realize that they can help us
by getting the vaccine, social distancing,
and following proper mask guidance.
It would help us tremendously.
- Hey, this is Randy with Beach EMS.
Someone called, requesting transport
for Room 109?