By Dr. Theophine Abakporo (MD)
I am an Emergency Medicine Physician in one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the city.
In the middle of the 2019/2020 Flu season (mid February/early March) we stsrted experiencing a surge of patients in the Emergency Room with upper respiratory infection (URI) problems. While this was the norm at that time of year, we started seeing differences in the signs and symptoms of a new URI.
The patients with these unfamiliar URI presentations were very ill with multi- system symptoms. We at that time did not make any significant shift in our therapeutic approach. It was christened Covid-19. While the politicians were busy politicking on what affects their chances at the polls, Covid-19 was busy decimating and killing the electorate.
By mid March, the acuity of the disease, the rapidity of the progression and the overall morbidity and mortality rates made the Government declare a state of Public Health Emergency. At this time our Emergency Room was like a slaughter house. Patients on ventilators rose from our usual capacity of 6 to over 50. This obviously overwhelmed the entire hospital capacity.
Simply put, a patient walks into your Emergency on a Monday and ends up in the morgue on a Friday. The fatality of Covid-19 and the infectivity is a nightmare.
The medical community rallied to institute community health measures and subsequently advised on some medications for compassionate care (which means medications that have not been scientifically proven and approved so they are at the doctor’s discretion).
As some of our staff got sick and some deaths occurred amongst them, we could no longer staff our ED (Emergency Department). The Government then sent us Military Medical Personnel for support, established field hospitals and gave us the 2500 patients capacity Naval Ship Hospital.
While all these efforts mitigated our suffering and supported our efforts, Covid-19 was unrelenting, mortality and morbidity figures climbing. Our morgue was so full that the administration had to bring in a Cold Trailer to store the dead. The scenes in our ED were worse than the worst horror films.
The emotional toll on the workers kicked in, warranting psychological support for staff, having heard about the death of their colleagues. Some committed suicide, some resigned, some are not back to work.
By sheer divine providence, yours truly is still hanging tough as the war against Corona continues.
Remember, Corona is contained but not defeated. So maintain the guidelines and stay safe. I will revisit as the fight continues.
Adieu
Dr Theophine Abakporo is a Nigerian physician working in New York. He is of the ’75 set.
