A respiratory therapist and former Army medic shares what we need to learn from the COVID pandemic
I had a COVID patient who was dying, and his family had to say goodbye through a screen. The man had his eyes closed. He was breathing heavily and shallowly, seemingly unaware of what was happening around him. As his family spoke, I placed my hand on his. He seemed to smile. The he passed away.
But now, after fighting a constantly changing virus, I think there are many things hospitals can do to be better prepared for a future with COVID. There must be a better focus on minimum supply levels to ensure availability for disasters. There must be mass casualty drills that ensure the preparedness of personnel to deal with more patients than supplies. I also think hospitals need to have a level of transparency with the public they are not used to.
I went to Iraq in 2004. I learned very quickly that there were things no one could teach you about life and loss—you had to experience them. I was a medic with an aid bag that weighed almost 80 pounds. No matter how many casualties, I had to make sure that what was in that bag would last, and I often had to improvise to make it happen. A medic must use the least number of supplies to save as many people as possible. I had no idea how important the lessons of 2004 would become in 2020.
As SARS-CoV-2 began to make its way around the world, health organizations, hospitals and the media tried to keep us informed. I listened to the news, read study after study and realized quickly that we may have some trouble ahead. It was not the description of the virus that was worrisome. What was worrisome was how different the information was depending on where you decided to get informed.
Today, we have more and more variants and more and more skepticism. If we can keep people from becoming infected, the virus gets fewer chances to mutate. If the virus spreads, it will eventually mutate to defeat natural immunity as well as vaccine-mediated immunity.
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