Here's a post I saw on Kansas City's Man Cave and he said it was OK to share :
I am currently in NYC working in the ER in one of the worst hit areas in the US. I would like to say a few things.
Yes, there are cooler trucks for the deceased. Yes, we have run out of some medications and are about to run out of others. Yes, we are completely out of IV pumps. Yes, we are running medications by counting drops. Yes, nurses are taking extremely high numbers of critical patients.
These hospitals are all COVID+ patients. If you come here and you do not have COVID, you probably will later. Yes, there are multiple patients in rooms and patients in the hallways. Ventilators and monitors are constantly going off. But a lot more is also true.
People are hoarding the supplies we need to do our jobs. You should be absolutely ashamed. Take what you need to protect yourself, but hoarding thousands of N95 masks to sell at a 500% markup to healthcare providers caring for intubated patients aerosolizing COVID all over us all day is absolutely disgusting. Shame on you.
When the USNS Comfort docked in NYC, people were lined up to take pictures. KCPD has to patrol the parks to break up crowds. A video has gone viral of LAPD officers breaking up a large group of people who value a toddler's birthday party more than the safety of others, all while they scream slurs at/threaten the officers. People are STILL on Florida beaches. A man lied about COVID symptoms and exposed his newly postpartum wife, his newborn, and an entire ward of laboring mothers, newborns, and staff to COVID. How selfish are we?
What are we not getting here?
I have held the hand of patients being taken of BiPAP/CPAP and intubated, knowing **** well they will probably never see another face after mine. Knowing **** well they will probably NEVER come off that ventilator. Knowing they will probably die, and I will be the last person they ever see before going under and never coming back. But, I know if I was going under surrounded by beeping machines and healthcare providers I would at least want to have my last memory be of a calm, caring face, not a nurse on the verge of a breakdown. I have watched patients die alone in a cold hospital surround by machines and strangers because it's too dangerous for their loved ones to be there with them. But you better not miss Spring Break.
Our supplies our exhausted. Our staff is breaking down. Our infrastructure is overwhelmed.
Italy tried to warn us. And we ignored them.
If we dont get it together this will be KC. This will be LA. And Houston. And Phoenix. And San Deiego. And every major city in America.
The doctors, nurses, techs, medics, EMTs, RTs and all other healthcare providers in NYC have been watching their friends, family, neighbors, and communities die for weeks. For weeks they have been begging us to listen. They have been exposing themselves and their families to a deadly pandemic while they struggled to save the city they love. Their home. While we slapped them in the face and went to the beach. While we whined that social distancing was too hard. While we called coronavirus a "bad flu."
I'm coming back home to KC. The pain and suffering I have witnessed has mentally overwhelmed me. I miss my home, I miss the familiarity of my city. I planned to stay longer, but I cannot handle it. I also fear for my city and feel I need to be prepared to defend it against COVID19, since we cant seem to stay away from each other long enough to get this under control.
NYC, I am sorry I couldn't stay longer. I am sorry I was not strong enough to handle this incredible burden you have been given. And I am sorry we didnt send help sooner. I hope in the short time I did spend with you, I made a difference, no matter how tiny. You're in my heart.
For individuals asking permission, yes you may share this to help spread the word of what we are facing as healthcare workers and a community.
