“Every day we see the body boxes spread out one after the other and, after cleaning the room, we let someone in again … It’s the worst we’ve ever seen.”
That’s what she told Janet Shamlian, ICU nurse Clarissa Carson, Wednesday at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon, where COVID-19 patients have filled the hospital.
Shamlian reported a constant rotation in the hospital’s intensive care unit, but not because patients are improving.
“We have patients waiting to receive life support,” Dr. Somnath Ghosh, from the ICU. “The change is so fast that it’s pretty sad. “
Carson said relatives could stay in the rooms to grieve after loved ones spent as much time as they wanted. They now have to leave in less than an hour so another patient with COVID can come in waiting in the hallway.
There is only one ICU bed available in the entire region.
Coronavirus hotspots have been appearing in the south for weeks, but communities in other parts of the country, including the Pacific Northwest, are also suffering in the midst of the latest wave.
Hospitalizations in Oregon hit a record high on Wednesday. ICU beds have a capacity of 93% statewide.
The Oregon governor has deployed members of the National Guard to 20 hospitals and many health systems have canceled elective surgeries.
“These patients have such a huge level of life support,” Ghosh told Shamlian. “Once we stop it, it takes less than a few minutes.”
Suffering and grief are part of every day.
“I’ve never seen so many deaths in my career,” said Kelsea Robinson, ICU manager. “We’re surrounded by that.”
Robinson said she is frustrated by the hesitant hesitation.
Wednesday at night, hundreds protested vaccines outside the hospital. Many said they were hospital staff.
“Our community is being shattered by people who don’t believe in the vaccine,” Carson said.
Most of the patients in the intensive care unit who visited Shamlian were not vaccinated. All but one patient wore a ventilator.
According to Carson, patients are so sick that the odds are against survival.
“The grief is tremendous,” Carson said. “We’re used to winning. We, UCI nurses, are used to winning and we don’t win. We’re losing.”
And there will be more losses, what some call collateral deaths. Ghosh said they have postponed at least 100 heart surgeries in the past two months because there is no room for these heart patients in the hospital or resources.
Some of these patients, he said, will probably die.