All Things COVID-19
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GLG
Well-Known Member
'Thirty-, 40- and 50-year-olds shouldn't be dying at this level': A day in the ICU
On any given day in B.C., the large majority of people in hospital intensive care units are unvaccinated.Nov 7, 2021
If vulnerable seniors in care homes were the face of the pandemic’s first wave, young unvaccinated people intubated in critical-care wards are the hallmark of the fourth.
On any given day in B.C., the large majority of people in hospital intensive care units are unvaccinated. On Nov. 5, 59 of 64 COVID patients age 59 and younger in ICUs in the province were unvaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people who end up in critical care are almost exclusively elderly with existing health conditions. Of 19 fully vaccinated people in critical care on Friday, 15 were 60 and older.
It’s hard to convey in statistics, however, what ICU registered nurse Carrie Homuth, who manages the adult intensive care unit and high acuity unit for Royal Jubilee, and her co-workers see every day in those hospitals. “When you come down to us and walk through these halls, there is the real story of the pandemic that isn’t captured in those numbers.”
The Times Colonist toured Royal Jubilee Hospital’s intensive care unit one day last month to pull back that curtain and show what life is like for the people behind the daily COVID statistics — the patients, the doctors, the nurses, the respiratory therapists, the housekeepers.
On that day, ICU lead Dr. Grant McIntyre said all of the ICU patients on the fifth-floor ward were unvaccinated.
“One of the telling things we’ve seen over the last few weeks is that a lot of people, before they are put on life support, pass on to us significant regret,” McIntyre said. “I’ve had people tell me they made a terrible mistake right before they are intubated. It’s a very sad thing to hear.”
Dr. Omar Ahmad, department head of emergency and critical-care medicine for Island Health, said many patients and families are not prepared for the unforgiving nature of the disease. “With COVID, you have healthy people who a month ago were totally fine and now they are on their deathbed.”
Physicians at Royal Jubilee have lost at least one unvaccinated patient in their 20s and multiple patients in their 30s.
“How do you reconcile that in your mind?” Ahmad said. “It’s brutal, it’s heart-wrenching. Families aren’t ready for it.”
Ahmad said he’s held the hands of newly admitted ICU COVID patients and tried to offer hope — “there is so much fear and so much anxiety.” But the reality is that there is not a lot of hope to give.
ICU and ER physician Dr. Adam Thomas wears a Star Wars cap that covers his forehead and a surgical mask that comes up below his eyes, which look weary. “Thirty-, 40- and 50-year-olds shouldn’t be dying at this level,” said Thomas. “We deal with death every day in the ICU but not at this level.”
Thomas, who is 36, said he’s treating fathers his age with young children — putting them on a ventilator “knowing it’s unlikely they’re going to see their kids again.”
It is excruciating for families and it’s taking a toll on health-care workers. “It’s a lot,” he said.
Watching patients die knowing that it was preventable makes the losses harder, health-care providers say.
And it’s getting worse. Since July 1, the mortality of ventilated COVID patients in B.C. has seen a “significant bump” to almost double, Thomas said, although it’s worse in some areas than others.
The spike in deaths coincides with Delta becoming the prevalent variant, Thomas said. “Doing this job we usually have tricks that work, but not a lot works now.”
Some otherwise healthy patients have died within a week of being admitted.
Critical illness progresses differently in different people for a variety of reasons, be it genetic, personal or environmental, but one thing is clear: A patient’s fitness has no effect on how their immune system fights the Delta variant, said Thomas.
In some patients, doctors can’t stop the disease’s progression, he said. “It’s humbling.”
Critical-care nurse Graeme Inglis said it’s the nature of the ICU that some people die and some people live, but it’s been tough to see people work so hard — from housekeepers and porters up to directors — to no avail.
“We don’t always have successful outcomes here, but in the last couple of months especially, we’ve seen a lot of sad tales, families by bedsides,” Inglis said. “I’ve seen young wives, I’ve seen young husbands, get left behind.”
Health-care workers have the added burden of having to conceal their emotions as families look to them to save their loved one — even when everything possible has been tried, said Inglis.
“Unfortunately, the patients living in this state, they don’t know how their decision [not to get vaccinated] has affected them — they can make that decision, and that’s great — but we see the families that are left behind and that’s a very tough thing to watch.”
A small number reject the COVID diagnosis, and some even threaten legal action if they are not given “treatments” that haven’t been proven.
The treatments that are used include steroids, immunotherapies and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which is similar to the heart-lung bypass machine used in open-heart surgeries. At one point early on, even lung transplants were performed at the transplant centre at Vancouver General Hospital, but were stopped because of poor outcomes.
“Every treatment that’s proven to be positive, we’re using,” said Ahmad, “but there’s no real magic bullet.
“People are hoping for miracles, but the miracle is the vaccine.”
https://www.timescolonist.com/local...-dying-at-this-level-a-day-in-the-icu-4732317
OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Swedish physicians launch petition to suspend Pfizer jabs after trial fraud allegations surface - Free West Media | Free West Media
A group of 16 Swedish doctors and researchers have signed a petition to demand that Pfizer's vaccines be stopped in Sweden due to suspected fraud.
freewestmedia.com
happy hooker
Crew Member
Freewestmedia.com is a far right news site owned by Vavra Suk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vávra_SukSwedish physicians launch petition to suspend Pfizer jabs after trial fraud allegations surface - Free West Media | Free West Media
A group of 16 Swedish doctors and researchers have signed a petition to demand that Pfizer's vaccines be stopped in Sweden due to suspected fraud.
some of the article seems to be factual but not all of it. Headlines in bold like “Vaccines, boosters offer no protection only risk” or “A virus designed to kill the elderly?” show the credibility of the website.
There does seem to be some concern over a subcontractor to Pfizer and sloppy trial practices and data. https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635. Cant seem to find an article about the petition from a credible news source,seems to be a developing story, may be getting vetted before publication?
happy hooker
Crew Member
B.C. COVID-19 denier publicly states he is ill, dies days later
Mak Parhar told social media followers he was sick with a sore throat and body chills. However he denied that he had the COVID-19 virus.
OldBlackDog
Well-Known Member
Port Alberni residents petition for unvaxed doctor to keep working at hospital
Alberni Valley residents petition for a long-serving pediatrician to continue working despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19.
www.cheknews.ca
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
Port Alberni residents petition for unvaxed doctor to keep working at hospital
Alberni Valley residents petition for a long-serving pediatrician to continue working despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19.
2 operating rooms at Kelowna hospital reduced as unvaxxed workers placed on leave
2 operating rooms at Kelowna hospital reduced as unvaxxed workers placed on leave
More than 1,000 unvaccinated health-care workers across Interior Health
www.wltribune.com
IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
Consumed by conspiracy: How so many fell down the QAnon rabbit hole
LONDON, England - Real conspiracies do exist.
It’s the first thing the 12-page “Conspiracy Theory Handbook” tells you: “Volkswagen conspired to cheat emissions tests for their diesel engines, the U.S. National Security Agency secretly spied on civilian internet users and the tobacco industry deceived the public about the harmful health effects of smoking,” it says. There was a reason conspiracies like those came to light, the handbook explains. It was all thanks to “internal industry documents, government investigations, or whistleblowers”.
However, the term conspiracy has taken on new meaning in the age of social media. Despite what certain videos on YouTube and posts on Facebook would have you believe, there are not any mind-controlling nanomachines planted in the COVID-19 vaccine and no, Hollywood celebrities aren’t eating babies. These are all theories the conspiracy group QAnon pushes. Theories that legions of online followers accept as fact. I was curious why seemingly rational people would believe things posted online over what governments and scientists tell them.
One November afternoon, I went to a rally in central London, where a hodgepodge of conspiracies collided. Anti-lockdown/anti-vaxxers/anti-you-name-it were gathered to protest pandemic restrictions and mask regulations. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted “freedom” and held signs reading things like “Unmask the Truth” and “No More Lockdowns, No More Cover Ups, No More Masks, No More Lies.”
It’s easy to think that only people with funny-looking hats at a political rally are vulnerable to extreme conspiracy theories, but it’s simply untrue. There are no stereotypes. Education plays no role and neither does a person’s IQ. What most have in common, though, is the belief the world is made of villains and persecuted victims; they see themselves as the latter. Conspiracy theories fuel their sense of outrage and betrayal and give them a scapegoat for their grievances.
And those who believe don’t like to be called conspiracy theorists. In fact, they hate it. The way they see it, others are the ones incapable of thinking critically. So how do you talk to someone for whom facts seem irrelevant? Start by not mocking them, Montreal clinical psychologist Ghayda Hassan tells W5. It might be tempting, she admits, but that will only make it worse. Hassan notes the road back can take years and require professional help.
“We have to look at a person's level of distress,” she explains.
There are often underlying issues that have never been dealt with and the right traumatic event – say, a pandemic – can easily trigger a downward spiral. The personal consequences can be devastating.
Spend thirty seconds on the Qanon Casualties Reddit group and the testimonials are both heartbreaking and maddeningly bizarre. One man talks about his brother, an Ivy League college graduate who is now so consumed by Qanon, he believes McDonald’s hamburger meat is made from kidnapped children. It’s become a place of mourning for those who have lost parents, children, or siblings to YouTube algorithms and don’t know how to get them back.
W5 had rare access to one man whose father is deep in the QAnon hole, with no clear way out: “as soon as he mentions anything conspiratorial, I don’t want to hear it… I miss what he used to be.”
LONDON, England - Real conspiracies do exist.
It’s the first thing the 12-page “Conspiracy Theory Handbook” tells you: “Volkswagen conspired to cheat emissions tests for their diesel engines, the U.S. National Security Agency secretly spied on civilian internet users and the tobacco industry deceived the public about the harmful health effects of smoking,” it says. There was a reason conspiracies like those came to light, the handbook explains. It was all thanks to “internal industry documents, government investigations, or whistleblowers”.
However, the term conspiracy has taken on new meaning in the age of social media. Despite what certain videos on YouTube and posts on Facebook would have you believe, there are not any mind-controlling nanomachines planted in the COVID-19 vaccine and no, Hollywood celebrities aren’t eating babies. These are all theories the conspiracy group QAnon pushes. Theories that legions of online followers accept as fact. I was curious why seemingly rational people would believe things posted online over what governments and scientists tell them.
One November afternoon, I went to a rally in central London, where a hodgepodge of conspiracies collided. Anti-lockdown/anti-vaxxers/anti-you-name-it were gathered to protest pandemic restrictions and mask regulations. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted “freedom” and held signs reading things like “Unmask the Truth” and “No More Lockdowns, No More Cover Ups, No More Masks, No More Lies.”
It’s easy to think that only people with funny-looking hats at a political rally are vulnerable to extreme conspiracy theories, but it’s simply untrue. There are no stereotypes. Education plays no role and neither does a person’s IQ. What most have in common, though, is the belief the world is made of villains and persecuted victims; they see themselves as the latter. Conspiracy theories fuel their sense of outrage and betrayal and give them a scapegoat for their grievances.
And those who believe don’t like to be called conspiracy theorists. In fact, they hate it. The way they see it, others are the ones incapable of thinking critically. So how do you talk to someone for whom facts seem irrelevant? Start by not mocking them, Montreal clinical psychologist Ghayda Hassan tells W5. It might be tempting, she admits, but that will only make it worse. Hassan notes the road back can take years and require professional help.
“We have to look at a person's level of distress,” she explains.
There are often underlying issues that have never been dealt with and the right traumatic event – say, a pandemic – can easily trigger a downward spiral. The personal consequences can be devastating.
Spend thirty seconds on the Qanon Casualties Reddit group and the testimonials are both heartbreaking and maddeningly bizarre. One man talks about his brother, an Ivy League college graduate who is now so consumed by Qanon, he believes McDonald’s hamburger meat is made from kidnapped children. It’s become a place of mourning for those who have lost parents, children, or siblings to YouTube algorithms and don’t know how to get them back.
W5 had rare access to one man whose father is deep in the QAnon hole, with no clear way out: “as soon as he mentions anything conspiratorial, I don’t want to hear it… I miss what he used to be.”
Consumed by conspiracy: How so many fell down the QAnon rabbit hole
A pandemic has added fuel to the fire of conspiracy theories. And many people are falling down the rabbit hole of lies ... but why? And, more importantly, how can they get back out? W5 investigates the world of online conspiracies.
www.ctvnews.ca
Port Alberni residents petition for unvaxed doctor to keep working at hospital
Alberni Valley residents petition for a long-serving pediatrician to continue working despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19.
www.cheknews.ca
IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
The hospital will not cave on this aspect regardless of any petition.
Period.
In fact, one of my Buddies has a wife working in Health Care.
She refused to get the vaccine (stressed out).
After a month and change it has become rather obvious that if she wants to continue in her chosen line of work, she will have to adhere to the protocols. He was holding out due to her uncertainty.
She booked both of them today.
Nog
I don’t know what is funny about firing one of the only two pediatricians at the Port Alberto hospital. I pray you never have a family member that cannot receive care due to this senseless decision.
I’m all for vaccines, and am double vax’d myself but firing healthcare workers poses an immediate risk. Personally I’d rather take the risk of being treated by an unvaccinated healthcare worker then not being treated at all. An unvaccinated healthcare worker has to first get sick, then go to work sick, and then fail to use proper procedure and PPE to pose a threat to society. I don’t need to go into detail about how firing a sizeable part of the workforce threatens each and every one of us.
Unvaccinated healthcare workers managed to care for us without excessive risk before vaccines were around, I’m certain they can continue to do so now.
I’m all for vaccines, and am double vax’d myself but firing healthcare workers poses an immediate risk. Personally I’d rather take the risk of being treated by an unvaccinated healthcare worker then not being treated at all. An unvaccinated healthcare worker has to first get sick, then go to work sick, and then fail to use proper procedure and PPE to pose a threat to society. I don’t need to go into detail about how firing a sizeable part of the workforce threatens each and every one of us.
Unvaccinated healthcare workers managed to care for us without excessive risk before vaccines were around, I’m certain they can continue to do so now.
If your kids are going to get COVID chances are they will get it from school. Fortunately they will very likely shake it off like many other colds. Schools are running because the risk of an impeded education outweigh the risk of serious illness from covid.
If the (much higher) risk of covid from school is worth it, I can’t imagine that you would choose worse access to life saving health treatments over a far less chance of contracting the disease.
GLG
Well-Known Member
Johnson and Johnson vaccine supply will be coming to BC early next week.
It will be offered first to health workers who are not yet immunized.
That should help deal with the problem as most said they are not anti-vaxx but were just not comfortable with the mRNA.
Once those have been given then there will be a phone number supplied that the general public can call to arrange a shot.
Those that are vaccine hesitant may want to think long and hard about taking them up on this offer.
Nothing wrong about being gun shy but here is your chance to join the rest of us.
It will be offered first to health workers who are not yet immunized.
That should help deal with the problem as most said they are not anti-vaxx but were just not comfortable with the mRNA.
Once those have been given then there will be a phone number supplied that the general public can call to arrange a shot.
Those that are vaccine hesitant may want to think long and hard about taking them up on this offer.
Nothing wrong about being gun shy but here is your chance to join the rest of us.
It's not the covid part. To me, it speaks to him as a physician. What other parts of medicine is he picking and choosing to follow best practices?
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
my wife’s family dr went on vacation, the replacement refused to write my wife a birth control prescription for religious reasons.
that happened only a few years ago
it seems that they can pick and choose how they please
GLG
Well-Known Member
NEW - There are 3,071 unvaccinated health care workers on leave in BC that are not vaccinated.
This includes:
1,032 casuals
989 full time
819 part time
16 not identified
Unvaccinated by job status in health care system:
Emergency medicine 28 not vaccinated (2%)
General medicine 105 not vaccinated (2%)
Care aides and community assistants 246 (3%)
Internal medicine 19 (1%)
Nursing 906 (2%)
Paramedics 86 (3%)
Resident doctors 10 (2%)
https://twitter.com/richardzussman
This includes:
1,032 casuals
989 full time
819 part time
16 not identified
Unvaccinated by job status in health care system:
Emergency medicine 28 not vaccinated (2%)
General medicine 105 not vaccinated (2%)
Care aides and community assistants 246 (3%)
Internal medicine 19 (1%)
Nursing 906 (2%)
Paramedics 86 (3%)
Resident doctors 10 (2%)
https://twitter.com/richardzussman
happy hooker
Crew Member
Exactly
wishiniwasfishin1
Well-Known Member
Here we go…. Will this be the next medical thread?
news.yahoo.com
Canadian becomes world’s first patient to be diagnosed as suffering from ‘climate change’
The diagnosis led to other doctors launching an initiative called Doctors and Nurses for Planetary Health
happy hooker
Crew Member
Really unfortunate situation for residents, feel for them. Unfortunate decision by the Dr., not getting it because he's concerned about effectiveness?Port Alberni residents petition for unvaxed doctor to keep working at hospital
Alberni Valley residents petition for a long-serving pediatrician to continue working despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19.
“If people are in our health care system are not recognizing the importance of vaccination then this is probably not the right profession for them,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry an update on Nov. 1
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