Davis said that she was giving bed baths on Sunday and changing sheets, as well as emptying trash cans. Davis has been coming in on her off days to help out overworked nurses at Ochsner Medical Center, Jefferson.
Hospitals are being overwhelmed by the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19-related infections in the U.S., particularly in areas like Louisiana. Last week, Louisiana saw a record number coronavirus hospitalizations. Nearly 2900 people are currently being treated for the virus. State health officials warn that this number may continue to rise over the next few weeks. Louisiana is the fourth-lowest country in vaccination rates, with 37% of all residents being fully vaccinated.
Recent Ochsner day saw health care workers rush up and down the halls, putting on and taking off protective clothes as they moved around. Patients lay motionless in dozens of ICU rooms as tubes ran down their throats and beeping machines forced drugs into their systems. Ventilators forced air into their weak lungs. As they tried to relieve the pressure on the staff, health care contractors from other hospitals quickly became familiar with the new environment.
Davis stated, “We are trying to provide consistent care but we need more hands.” “One of our biggest problems for nurses is that the patient volume is such that we have to create beds that don’t exist before. We have to search for providers who weren’t there before.
A THOROUGH CASELOAD
Ochsner Health, which has 40 facilities throughout the state, is Louisiana’s largest health care provider. Ochsner’s facilities are home to more than 1,000 patients, nearly 40% of Louisiana’s coronavirus hospitalized. About 200 people are located at Jefferson’s main campus. Three floors of the West Tower hospital have been converted into care units for coronavirus victims.
The state has seen its resources stretched to the limits. Hospitals have begun to refuse patients with life-threatening conditions like strokes or heart attacks. Elective surgery and non-urgent care were suspended.
Davis stated that Ochsner’s nursing department is in dire need of her assistance. She mentioned that she has been pushing wheelchairs and pulling medication for her recent duties.
She said, “If it took pressure off of a nurse, but if it allowed her to do what she needed, that’s what it was.” “Sunday was supposed be my day off with the kids, but we still need help here, so one day I will be able tell the two little boys that I did what was necessary at the right time.
NURSES HELPING NURNES
Nurses Joan Blizzard, and Arthur Bienvenu work together in Ochsner Medical Center’s ICU to provide care for coronavirus patients.
They tie their gowns, pre medicines, and machines together with barely any words, and shuffle into and out of patient’s rooms, their eyes being the only thing visible through their protective gear.
Bienvenu stated that he has worked 50-60 hours per week to care for patients, and was surrounded by other staff members over the past year. This helped him to cope with the death of his father.
He shared the story of his father with other grieving family members, saying that he was able to share the details of his dad’s life. This included how his dad spent more than 20 days on a ventilator in spring and how his family had the hard decision to remove him from it.
Bienvenu stated that the outcome would not be what he desired. “He didn’t want to have to live with the trach (feeding tube), and the severity of it all, so we decided that comfort from progressive measures would be best for him. The little dignity and respect that my dad had left us, we kept that.”
Bienvenu stated that he found purpose in his most difficult time by working with families who have lost loved ones.
He said, “People would ask me why you are still coming in?” You know that these people are dependent on us. This must be stopped. Everyone has their own path. It’s a blessing to be surrounded by the people I love. It’s the only way that I can be here.”
Mary Lubrano, a critical care nurse, has seen her colleagues run up and down the hallway of Ochsner Medical Center’s ICU while Mary lies in bed with the virus. Her breathing has been labored for the past two weeks, and she is still in hospital.
She said, “That was me,” to the other nurses, her voice choked with emotion. “I wanted to be there to help them.”
Lubrano is a critical care nurse at St. Bernard Parish Hospital. This Ochsner-run hospital is near her Chalmette home. She was originally admitted there before being transferred to Jefferson.
She stated that she checks her email as much as possible to check on how Chalmette’s other nurses are doing.
“They are busting there and full of COVID patients. It’s the same nurses every day. She said that they just “go and go.” “As a nurse it’s all about giving back. I can’t wait for the day to go back out there.”
It’s worse this time
Blizzard stated that the magnitude of the most recent coronavirus outbreak, which was largely triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant, is staggering.
She said, “People are becoming sick so quickly this year.” “They will be talking with you and in a matter of hours we’ll have multiple people at your bedside performing emergency procedures.” It is very scary.
She said that if they survive, many of them will have years of impairment.
Bienvenu wishes people to see the seriousness of the current situation.
He said, “It strikes all of us differently.” He said, “Yes, it is possible for one person to have a cough or sneeze, but another can be on a ventilator.”
WISHING THEM HAD BEEN VACCINATED
Jerome Batiste (26-year-old New Orleans resident) said that he rarely gets sick and didn’t believe he needed the coronavirus vaccination. He said that he believed he had an immune system strong enough to withstand the whole pandemic and not become infected.
He sat at a window in Ochsner’s recovery room, taking in the sun from the bench next to his hospital bed. He said that he was not only missing the vaccine, but also wished he had.
Batiste doesn’t know where he got the virus, but he said that he was on a family vacation to Disney World and that he visited friends over the weeks prior to falling ill.
He said, “It just happened.” It just happened out of the blue. “I started to cough a lot.”
He claimed that he tried over-the-counter medicine for his cough, hoping it would go away. But, “it just kept getting worse and worse. I started throwing up a lot and couldn’t keep any down.”
He was admitted to the hospital last Wednesday and has been treated with vitamins, steroids, breathing treatment, and shots to prevent blood from clotting. A rare condition has also been diagnosed in him. His body’s muscle tissue is now starting to fall apart, and he needs a kidney flush to stop further complications.
Batiste stated that he is telling his family and friends not to get “comfortable,” when it comes to the virus, and to take the shot to protect themselves.
He said that he didn’t take the vaccination as seriously as other young people. A port with tubes for his medication sticking out of his right arm was visible. “It’s never too safe not to get vaccinated.”
Mary Lubrano is a critical care nurse who has COVID-19. She said that she hadn’t been admitted to hospital before this year. She stated that she originally wanted to be vaccinated but was forced to postpone due to a diagnosis of breast cancer in February. Then, surgery and radiation were required to remove it.
After a stroke in a family member, she was concerned about putting her health at risk. Although she knows that most people will experience mild side effects, if at all, she is still cautious. The U.S. vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective in fighting severe diseases and death in both large-scale studies and real-world usage in millions of people.
Lubrano said that she had her follow-up and was brave enough to get my vaccine. She called it the most frightening time of her life. “You take breathing as a given. “… If you are unable to get air into your lungs while sitting down, that is so frightening. I don’t want anyone ever to experience that.”
Lubrano stated that her husband was first hospitalized and she was kept in quarantine at home. She said that he is now recovering at home and still on oxygen.
Lubrano’s entire extended family, including her sisters, daughters and spouses, have all received at least one dose since her hospitalization.
She said that she made it her mission to ensure that no one has to suffer in this way. Everyone needs to get vaccinated. This is the only way to beat it.
Davis, a neurologist who was forced to assume additional duties due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, said she cannot stress enough how important it is for everyone to get vaccinated. She recalls watching her neighbors and friends die a year ago, before vaccines were even available.
She said, “They were people who didn’t have a shot.” They were the only ones who could stop them. Now is your chance. You have the chance to create a different fate than theirs. Don’t waste it!
