This afternoon, the Rochester New York area experienced a foreshadowing of what medical care might be like during a pandemic. It wasn’t pretty.
Rochester and Monroe County are in the grips of influenza. The local hospitals are overflowing with folks complaining of cough, fatigue, aches and pains and for many elderly, confusion and disorientation.
As the demand builds at each hospital’s emergency department, they go from “green” to “yellow” to “red”. By law they cannot refuse a patient, and even when red the patients keep coming.
Ambulance crews had their usual wait times grow, and grow again, until some crews were waiting at triage for four hours. Each crew waiting at the hospital meant that an ambulance was not available to take another call.
About 2:30 pm I was called in to the East … Read entire article »
On Y!CN
Shadow of the Pandemic
March 10th, 2008 | 16 Comments
This afternoon, the Rochester New York area experienced a foreshadowing of what medical care might be like during a pandemic. It wasn’t pretty. Rochester and Monroe County are in the grips of influenza. The local hospitals are overflowing with folks complaining of cough, fatigue, aches and pains and for many elderly, confusion and disorientation. As the demand builds at each hospital’s emergency department, they go from “green” to “yellow” to “red”. By law they cannot refuse a patient, and even when red the patients keep coming. Ambulance crews had their usual wait times grow, and grow again, until some crews were waiting at triage for four hours. Each crew waiting at the hospital meant that an ambulance was not available to take another call. About 2:30 pm I was called in to the East … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Influenza, Medicine, Original writing, Pandemic