EMS update
Email 01/08/2022
Hello Mr ______,
It is now officially cold/flu season here in Atlanta. Overall we still aren't seeing 911 call volume that would suggest a "pandemic". We have busy shifts, and slow shifts, which is perfectly normal. It is also normal to see some flu cases this time of year. I just began my 18th year of EMS service this month, and every year has had a cold/flu season. What is not normal is how backed up the ERs are this year. Some days our patients are being made to wait in the hallways on our stretchers until a bed opens up. Sometimes this is an hour, sometimes it can be as long as 8+ hours. This causes a shortage of available 911 ambulances, as that crew cannot abandon the patient until care has officially been transferred. We had a day recently where six 911 calls were holding because we had no available ambulances. One of the main causes is severe nurse staffing shortages. Another reason, I believe, is positive covid test patients have preferential admission. It's about the money. While I don't get to visit every single hospital in Atlanta, I have seen similar conditions in the 5 or 6 that I frequent most.
Another problem is that some of the hospitals occasionally refuse to accept patients arriving by ambulance. They say it's because they are full, but that wasn't the case a three days ago. My patient had some complications following a surgery, so she needed to go back to the hospital where her surgeon was located. The hospital refused to allow us to bring her, so I called her surgeon directly and explained the situation. The surgeon called the ER and arranged for the patient to be accepted. When we arrived we walked past no less than 3 empty rooms on the way to the room my patient was assigned. When a hospital refuses patients it puts a strain on the other hospitals in the area, which causes more of what I was talking about in the first paragraph. I've even had some hospitals hang up on me while trying to give report on an incoming ambulance patient recently.
I think I have kept you up to date regarding vaccine mandates where I work. While we have had multiple dates, the latest one was scheduled for 01/18. As far as I know that one has been put on hold as well, but the constant "on again, off again" has taken it's toll on a lot of my coworkers and they finally got the shot. I want to share this news article with you.
***Link removed to protect privacy***
This is one of our employees. They won't say if he took the shot, as it is considered private health information. However the timing of this "rare" blood clot that caused him to have a stroke coincides with the latest mandate date they gave us. He is 35 years old with no prior medical problems from what I've heard.
That brings me to the religious exemptions. As far as I know, nobody here has been granted a religious exemption. I submitted mine sometime in late October and it has been completely ignored. Same thing for the others who also submitted exemption requests.
The patients I have been seeing lately are mostly the vexxed and boosted. And it's been a wide range of problems. There are definitely more chest pain, heart attack, and stroke patients than years past. And they are generally younger than you'd expect. But I am also seeing other problems such as arrhythmias and cancers. Yesterday I had a 32 y/o patient that I transported a few months ago for abdominal pain. I remember her because she was my first patient to tell me that she had already gotten her booster, as she has a heart condition and is considered "high risk". Sometime between then and now she developed an aggressive cancer and is now terminally ill. I didn't even recognize her at first as she has withered away.
Pediatric chest pain calls have spiked recently. I can only guess that this is due to the GCI (genetic code injection). I've probably said it before, but we really aren't trained in the management of pediatric heart disease and coronary syndromes because "rare is an understatement. Traditionally the two big causes of medical emergencies in pediatric patients are trauma and airway related. Cardiac problems and strokes have never been a concern in pediatric patients.... until now.
I know all of this is just a small piece of the overall picture, but I hope it helps.
-Handy