Just a few months ago, there were only five patients with COVID-19 at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. As of Thursday, there were more than 45.
Almost all of these patients are not vaccinated, reflecting “the amount of misinformation that is being absorbed and taken for granted in our community because people are convinced they don’t want to be vaccinated and then end up here.” Dr. Meghan McInerney, medical director of the intensive care unit, told ABC News.
Due to the influx of patients, the beds are not left empty for a long time.
“We are overwhelmed. We have so many patients with COVID that they are not vaccinated,” McInerney said. “In addition to an already busy ICU, add the volume of COVID patients we’re seeing now and yes, just add a different level of busy, another crazy … It’s a lot. It’s a lot.”
Idaho state hospitals are now facing their biggest rise as COVID-19 patients are flooded into emergency departments.
Across the state, more than 600 patients are hospitalized with the virus, the highest recorded, and less than 13% of the state’s ICU beds remain available.
Earlier this week, in an effort to cope with the continuing rise, state health officials in Idaho announced that they had activated a “crisis care standard” for hospitals in the north of the state, which it will allow hospitals to ration attention given the increase in demand and a severe shortage of staff. “
The rapidly expanding delta variant has made the work of these front-line workers even more difficult, McInerney explained. Idaho currently has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S., with less than 40% of the state’s total population fully vaccinated; the national rate stands at 53.6%.
“It’s very difficult to be a front-line doctor, do it every day, and live in a state where the vaccination rate is so low,” McInerney said.
In fact, all patients who are in critical condition of COVID-19 and are currently being cared for in Saint Alphonsus Boise have not been vaccinated, ICU nurse Jessica Parrott told ABC News, while “people who do not they are critically ill are the people who have the vaccine, ”he added.
The virus also lands much younger people in the ICU, some of whom are about twenty years old. This particular wave of infections feels more “aggressive” than those treated during the 2020 increase, said Dr. Carolyn McFarlane, a hospitalist at Saint Alphonsus Boise.
“The deaths in our system in the last 24 hours are 30 years and another fifty. It feels preventable,” McFarlane said.
McInerney said staff are totally overloaded and overwhelmed and teams are facing a staffing crisis. More and more nurses are being asked to take additional shifts due to the influx of patients from all over Idaho and even out of state.
“We don’t have the hands we need to take care of everyone. And it’s incredibly frustrating for everyone involved at all levels, including [administration] to environmental services, “said Alicia Luciani, nurse in charge of COVID-19 in Saint Alphonsus Boise.” It is affecting everyone and affecting the way our patients are receiving care. And we do our best to provide all we can to these patients. ”However, he added,“ It’s incredibly frustrating. Everyone is so tired. “
In addition to the physical and emotional exhaustion of work shifts that feel like a “silent battlefield,” Saint Alphonsus medical staff said they are discouraged by the continued unwillingness of some Idaho residents to obtain the vaccine.
While several patients express regret for not receiving or seeking any vaccine, some have even apologized for it, according to educating nurse Monica Brower, others remain controversial, even after being on a ventilator. and confronting the stark reality of their mortality. .
“Don’t tell me I have COVID. I don’t believe in COVID,” patients told McFarlane, who started when he told combat patients.
“There’s an almost contradictory tone when we ask,‘ Have you been vaccinated? “It creates a rift in the tone of the room, because it’s a feeling of ‘well you’ll treat me differently because I didn’t get vaccinated,'” and that’s far from the truth. “
In fact, McFarlane said, “You almost get to a point where you read the tone of the room and even shy away from asking about the status of the vaccination, because you want to focus on saving the person’s life, not to get into politics behind the vaccine. “
As more unvaccinated patients fill hospital beds, Luciani said it has become “really difficult to maintain a level of hope.”
“They take care of guns,” Luciani explained, and even on the bed of his death he has had to listen to people denying they had the virus, while maintaining their fervent anti-vaccine sentiment. “In my opinion, this life is over as we know it … Some people just refuse. And it’s like a slap in the face.”
“They don’t get to see how hard we’re working to try to keep them alive. … That’s the real deal. That’s what it looks like,” McInerney said.
When asked what makes them continue, McFarlane’s response resonates.
“We are taking care of our communities, family, acquaintances, neighbors … We will do our best to care for them, because we care, because we have taken an oath and it is time for us and we are here for our community.”