margarita25
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N.Y.C.’s 911 System Is Overwhelmed. ‘I’m Terrified,’ a Paramedic Says.
“With coronavirus cases mounting, emergency workers are making life-or-death decisions about who goes to a hospital, and who is left behind.”
In a matter of days, New York City’s 911 system was overwhelmed by calls for medical distress seemingly related to the coronavirus.Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York Times
[...]
““It’s all a war zone,” one of the paramedics said.
Days later, another paramedic, Phil Suarez, was dispatched to two homes in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, where entire families, living in cramped apartments, appeared to be stricken with the virus.
“I’m terrified,” said Mr. 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.””
[...]
“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 in the 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 scene which patients should receive time-consuming measures like CPR and intubation, and which patients are too far gone to save.
And, they are doing it, in most cases they say, without appropriate equipment to protect themselves from infection.
The paramedics described grim scenes as New York City has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with more than 30,000 cases as of Saturday, and 672 deaths.”
- much more at link
“With coronavirus cases mounting, emergency workers are making life-or-death decisions about who goes to a hospital, and who is left behind.”
In a matter of days, New York City’s 911 system was overwhelmed by calls for medical distress seemingly related to the coronavirus.Credit...Mark Abramson for The New York Times
[...]
““It’s all a war zone,” one of the paramedics said.
Days later, another paramedic, Phil Suarez, was dispatched to two homes in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, where entire families, living in cramped apartments, appeared to be stricken with the virus.
“I’m terrified,” said Mr. 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.””
[...]
“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 in the 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 scene which patients should receive time-consuming measures like CPR and intubation, and which patients are too far gone to save.
And, they are doing it, in most cases they say, without appropriate equipment to protect themselves from infection.
The paramedics described grim scenes as New York City has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with more than 30,000 cases as of Saturday, and 672 deaths.”
- much more at link
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........moo
