The Briefing Room

State Chapters => NY/NJ => Topic started by: libertybele on March 30, 2020, 02:21:02 am

Title: 'War Zone': Ambulances in New York Are Now As Busy as on Sept. 11
Post by: libertybele on March 30, 2020, 02:21:02 am

It is happening; medical personnel are having to make decision as to who gets treated and who doesn't.  Again, it's necessary to contain this virus, otherwise ... every state will be like NY and more medical personnel will be faced with who to treat and who to leave behind or leave to die. 

'War Zone': Ambulances in New York Are Now As Busy as on Sept. 11

“I’m terrified,” said Suarez, who has been a paramedic in New York City for 26 years and had assisted in rescue efforts during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and later served in the Iraq War. “I honestly don’t know if I’m going to survive. I’m terrified of what I’ve already possibly brought home.”

Even as hospitals across New York become inundated with coronavirus cases, some patients are being left behind in their homes because the health care system cannot handle them all, according to dozens of interviews with paramedics, New York Fire Department officials and union representatives, as well as city data.

In a matter of days, the city’s 911 system has been overwhelmed by calls for medical distress apparently related to the virus. Typically, the system sees about 4,000 Emergency Medical Services calls a day. On Thursday, dispatchers took more than 7,000 calls — a volume not seen since the Sept. 11 attacks. The record for amount of calls in a day was broken three times last week.

Because of the volume, emergency medical workers are making life-or-death decisions about who is sick enough to take to crowded emergency rooms and who appears well enough to leave behind. They are assessing on the scene which patients should receive time-consuming measures like CPR and intubation, and which patients are too far gone to save.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/war-zone-ambulances-york-now-161025081.html (https://www.yahoo.com/news/war-zone-ambulances-york-now-161025081.html)

Title: Re: 'War Zone': Ambulances in New York Are Now As Busy as on Sept. 11
Post by: Smokin Joe on March 30, 2020, 07:48:40 am

Quote

Because of the volume, emergency medical workers are making life-or-death decisions about who is sick enough to take to crowded emergency rooms and who appears well enough to leave behind. They are assessing on the scene which patients should receive time-consuming measures like CPR and intubation, and which patients are too far gone to save.

Triage. We did it with trauma, now they are doing it with disease. Never fun.