Resuscitator Craig Spencer described the difficult situation in the American medical center
Dr. Craig Spencer, resuscitator at New York Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Center, created a Twitter thread that described his daily routine during the coronavirus pandemic.
“You can hear that he is not scary. Scary. You can hear that he is not able to destroy you. Capable of. I survived Ebola. I’m scared of # COVID-19, ”Spencer wrote, whose day starts at 6:30 in the morning, and the way to work lies along deserted streets.
“You accept the post from the previous shift, but almost all patients are the same, young and old: cough, shortness of breath, fever. The team is really worried about one patient. We give him the maximum amount of oxygen, but he still suffocates…
You evaluate this patient immediately. It is clear that this and what should happen. You have a long and honest conversation with the patient and his family on the phone. It’s better to connect it to the life support system now, before everything becomes much worse, ”the doctor says.
You might hear people saying it isn’t real. It is.
You might hear people saying it isn’t bad. It is.
You might hear people saying it can’t take you down. It can.
I survived Ebola. I fear #COVIDー19.
Do your part. Stay home. Stay safe.
And every day I’ll come to work for you
– Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) March 24, 2020
Almost immediately, another patient enters the hospital, with fever and vomiting. It is also connected to the devices. Not yet 10 a.m. Further, until the end of the shift, “serious” patients arrive almost every hour: with fever, fever, shortness of breath, low blood pressure.
“At the height of the day, you recall that you did not drink water. But you are afraid to take off the mask. This is the only thing that protects you. Of course you can still be patient. In West Africa, during the Ebola outbreak, you spent hours in a hot suit, without water. Another patient… ”
38-year-old Spencer contracted the Ebola virus in 2014, working as a volunteer in the Doctors Without Borders group in West African Guinea. The man was quarantined in one of the hospital’s isolation wards; he managed to overcome the disease.
… The change ends the same way: all clothes fly to the wash, the phone and wallet are wiped with disinfectants.
“Almost everyone you saw today is the same case. Where did all patients with heart attacks and appendicitis go? All this is COVID, – the American doctor wrote. -… We did not have time to completely stop this virus. But we can slow down its spread. The virus cannot infect those whom it never encounters. Stay home. Social distance is the only thing that will save us now. ”
