'I feel defeated': inside New Jersey hospitals overwhelmed by Covid-19 (The Guardian)

Medical staff say they are taking on double the patient loads, working twice their usual hours, and without the equipment they need
April 10,2020
By Alexandra Villarreal

Inside New Jersey intensive care units and emergency rooms, frustrated and frightened frontline medical staff are taking on double their normal patient loads or working twice their usual hours, without the equipment they need.

From moment to moment, they face harrowing life-and-death encounters and constantly risk their own safety to help an overwhelming number of people of a variety of ages and backgrounds who are “effectively drowning on dry land” from Covid-19.

“Every single 12-hour shift I work is like nothing I’ve ever endured,” said Lynn, a nurse at Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, northern New Jersey. She has worked in the field for more than three decades, and describes the current state of the ICU as “a war zone”. The patients are “sicker than I’ve ever seen”, she says. They can crash in the blink of an eye, then slip into multiple organ failure.

... An emergency room doctor in northern New Jersey, who also feared retaliation and asked to remain anonymous, said his hospital has a similar caseload to Elmhurst Hospital, one of the hardest hit in New York City. Before the outbreak, it wasn’t unusual if one patient lost their pulse and needed chest compressions to stay alive. But during a recent shift, he was faced with three such situations, back-to-back.

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/10/new-jersey-coronavirus-hospital-overwhelmed?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other