From a first responder with emergency department experience

a reply to: JAY1980

That seems to be the general consensus, medical staff sounding the alarm left right and centre, I understand people not trusting goverment and media but to dismiss the medics as well is somewhat bewildering, I have family on the front lines as well .

a reply to: carewemust

I don't usually talk about my profession online, or really outside of work, because its not the place for it. That being said,


Before I did this, I worked as a sous-chef for a fine dining "manor" which was a 5 diamond place. I left to do this full time, and cut my earnings by what some would call an extremely idiotic and irresponsible amount.

A lot of first responders are making hourly wages that are similar to burger flippers. the majority of the 911 calls are pretty easy stuff, but you do run into those traumas, car wrecks, overdosed kids, dead bodies and the like. And get paid peanuts for it, and also get run into the ground with unexpected (Hah, wish it was as unexpected as that word sounds) late calls. a 12 hour shift easily turns into a 15-16 hour shift.

If anything, all of this has shown just how trash and selfish a lot of people are. If we can’t do better than this as a society maybe we don’t deserve to make it through.

I work in imaging myself. And I wish the folk here and everywhere else, (though most of the general public have, by now, cast aside the idiocy of denial) could see the hospitals and patients they are talking about. We are struggling to keep the ones we already have alive, and without social distancing and safety measures many of those infected in the future will not have access to the beds or treatments folk are currently getting because it quickly surpass max capacity. Most other nations health systems have 200-500 icu beds per 10000 civilians, we have 2. Not 200, just 2. If they are all filled up, which is all likelihood at the current pace, not only will corona patients die at home, so will heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, and all the other emergent situations. Calling for an end to mitigation mechanisms is calling for all those people to die. And death by corona is not pretty.

a reply to: Iconic

Stay well.

We can recover.

a reply to: pexx421

I loved my RadRats when I was in the ED. Awesome group, especially when that trauma comes in through the door. They're not shy about putting your lead on when you're securing that CSpine either, haha.

But in all honesty, people have an incredible misunderstanding of how many beds we have in hospitals. If its not Mass General, or Children's or something huge, chances are, there are probably five beds on any floor that are open, if you're lucky.

Most beds are full, ESPECIALLY when it's cold out, because the hospital is warm and has food.

Stay safe brother (or sister)

a reply to: Iconic

yeeea. I haven't posted on the internet in some years. I have stayed back, watching, life changed and talking about things on the internet could negatively impact my career and thus my family. I have watched the threads go back and forth, and i frequent other sites as well. I have watched this virus since November because that is what I do, I ensure digital compliance and I look ahead at things that could be coming.

I work in healthcare but I am not a medical professional. I am a systems security administrator, HIPAA compliance. I work for the largest not-for-profit in my part of the state. At first no one believed, then there were conspiracy theories, then there was panic. We announced the first communal spread case today, I like to believe my hospitals rush to setup drive through checks and be transparent helped our community understand and begin to take things seriously.

We are still probably a couple weeks from peak numbers but already the social distancing and closing of non essential businesses has helped slow the spread. These types of actions are contrary to everything i believe in as an American but also a big part of me was desperate that people would make the right choice. Other communities around us were not so quick to act and not so transparent, their problems are worse. We knew going into this that if our hospital failed to act, if we became over whelmed there was no one else. No where else to go but the big cities and if it came to that we would begin to lose medical personnel as well and then it was game over. The choices would no longer be ours to make as someone would have to come in and take over for us and our community, our families, would suffer.


We know we do not have enough supplies and we in IT have been helping put together the largest work from home and telehealth experiment in history as well as taking donations from our locals. We will tell our grandchildren about this. I see the people on the front lines I go to work everyday to support and they are scared because they know we do not have enough supplies. It is hard to explain what the last month and a half has been like at work not just for me but for all the great people i work with. Concern, sometimes fear, a lot of determination and many days as of late.... Silence in the offices.

We will get through this, but we must work together. Numbers are all over the place and everyone is a keyboard warriorexpert. I have only begun to see the beginning of what is coming but it is real and for those with symptoms it is brutal. I am ranting i know, what i have seen so far and been a part of is not anything i ever really thought i would see or do but here we are. as some one who frequents these types of sites this is obviously something i have considered happening in my life time. It was always my worst case scenario though.

Sorry, i am not trying to steal your thunder, and if any of you really do work in the medical field and would like to talk PM me. Boy do we all have some stories to tell, and those of us who don't yet most likely will soon.

Keep safe friends, we can handle this so long as we work together.

a reply to: akira131

That's the biggest message I want people to take from this.

We need to work together.

We need to be conscious of what we are doing, and what we /can/ do to help. We have been through worse, and we will see worse again sometime in the future. But right now, we need to focus.

It is just surprising to me, the amount of people here who are the type of people who would be ready if SHTF, and now we are looking at a real possibility, they're the ones dragging their feet and saying they're going to practice "Social coughing" at a restaurant?

In my neck of the woods, you'd be laid out pretty quickly for that, but that's besides the point.

Your freedoms do not trump anyone else's. That's a fact. And so we have got to come together and play this one smart.

a reply to: Iconic

Good on you!

What are you guys doing to help reduce the total viral load you may be exposed to over time?

a reply to: akira131

These types of actions are contrary to everything i believe in as an American but also a big part of me was desperate that people would make the right choice.

I have heard that a lot lately. Mostly from tired people who are doing their best. Please stay well!

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

Like I said in OP, I had to step back at the end of last week, because of needing to make sure people in my home were safe.

That being said, the protocol rollout for my state was pretty much doing initial assessments at 6 feet, and if they're infected or could be, put a (rectangle) mask on them.

Things are not looking very good in that respect.

In other ways, a lot of people are coming up with great ways to minimize virulent spread when operating things like CPAP or BiPAP with virulent filters to make a closed system to minimize impact in the truck and to the care provider, like using the filter between the BVM and mask, using direct flow 02 instead of the nasal cannula, and using different T connections that can impede virulent leak.

So there's good, and bad, really.

a reply to: Iconic

In other ways, a lot of people are coming up with great ways to minimize virulent spread when operating things like CPAP or BiPAP with virulent filters to make a closed system to minimize impact in the truck and to the care provider, like using the filter between the BVM and mask, using direct flow 02 instead of the nasal cannula, and using different T connections that can impede virulent leak.

That's a little above my head but I'm damn thankful for people smarter than me on this. We're going to need that Yankee McGyver spirit all over, I think.

a reply to: Iconic

i agree and i am one of those people. My wife and I have managed to stay a step or 2 ahead of the chaos, we were already somewhat prepared. At the first sign we may lose this fight she is taking our children and leaving because i wont have my family locked down in a sick city and we have a place to go with family far away from any town. My wife and kids have been in isolation since before spring break so.. we have done what we can. I am proud of my city and of our Hospital. I will be staying until this is over because I feel that way. I won't subject my children to me bringing it home and I wont have my family in an ingress, egress checkpoint situation. they would be safer somewhere else and my "I'm ready for shtf" side actually, for once, was useful.

An interesting thought I've had is that with the exposure of so many in the medical field and the reality that some of them have people at home with higher risk than most.

Are some wishing they could somewhat isolate themselves from their loved ones? but maybe don't have the option?

I'm sure some, as hard as it would be, would rather stay somewhere else for a few weeks or a month to preserver their loved ones safety.

Given the gigantic drop in travel, seems like a great opportunity for hotels to offer up a few floors(or more) for free to anyone in the medical/highly exposed group of professionals to have a room for them.

I'm sure most wouldn't live there full time, but it would be nice to have SOMEPLACE to go the majority of the week if they don't necessarily want to go home and risk their at risk family members.

If I had a facility like that, I'd offer that.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

thank you. You too my friend

a reply to: ZapBrannigan3030

We live in a 1250 sf home built just after WW2. There is nowhere to go. We gots what we gots between us. If my SO goes back out into the world while this is still going on, we are going to be right there with her because our home is too small go to our separate corners.

a reply to: ZapBrannigan3030

A few of my colleagues and coworkers are exactly in that position, and a few are taking some measures.

A few of them have had their wives set up a separate living situation for them in garages, different parts of the house. They go to work, come home, and live separate from the family, because they understand the risk. Others come home, and decon before entering the house, but there's still the risk of invisible infection, or being a carrier.

All in all, we are showing incredible resolve.

I'm someone who gets annoyed by people who drive around with "IM A NURSE GIVE ME ATTENTION" bumper stickers, or people who are whackers on the dept, wearing their station shirt out in public when off the job or wearing their pager off duty when they're shopping out of town, but,

I agree in showing some respect for those who are putting their comfort and lives to the side to walk the walk.

My father is currently a police chief, and he has been fighting cancer for a while. Blood cancer, to put it simply. He hasn't stepped back, because it's his terminology here; "I walk the walk, I chose the path." I respect that man more than anyone else on the planet, even though I know his downsides and failures. His successes, victories and character speak louder than anything else.

a reply to: Iconic

I don't know what type of town you are in, but if people are trying to find solutions to that, maybe you could make a call to the local hotel.

It's possible they just never thought of it.

It's hard to be away from family, but probably just as hard to "be" there knowing you may pose a risk.

I can't believe that in most towns, especially with occupancy probably at all time lows, they wouldn't try to help all those that are on the front lines.

a reply to: ZapBrannigan3030

Well, hotels put you in close proximity to a lot of people, and doorknobs that you don't know if they're clean, and etc.

A cordoned off section of house is a bit more controllable, I guess.