Alabama man dies after 43 hospitals with full ICUs turned him away; household urges COVID-19 vaccines
CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — The household of an Alabama man who died of coronary heart points greater than 200 miles from his house is asking folks to get vaccinated in opposition to the coronavirus after greater than 40 hospitals throughout three states have been unable to simply accept him because of full cardiac ICUs.
Ray Martin DeMonia died Sept. 1; three days earlier than his 74th birthday, his household mentioned.
DeMonia suffered a coronary heart assault and was transferred to the closest obtainable mattress, which was greater than 200 miles away at Rush Basis Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi.
In his obituary, his household urged folks to get vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19.
“In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if in case you have not, in an effort to release sources for non-COVID-related emergencies,” the obituary learn.
Instances in COVID-19 circumstances are as soon as once more pushing hospitals throughout the nation to their limits.
Danne Howard, the Alabama Hospital Affiliation deputy director, mentioned the state is in a dire place. The COVID-19 surge started in mid-august and has now reached its highest level ever through the pandemic.
“I can’t predict what’s going to occur tomorrow, however we’re actually not rending in the precise course,” Howard mentioned.
Though hospitals do have the potential to broaden capability, Howard mentioned there’s a scarcity of workers to deal with that change adequately.
“That’s why we’re so aggressively looking for further sources, so these choices don’t need to be made, so these sorts of life-or-death conditions are usually not one thing that need to be confronted,” Howard defined.
On Tuesday, Alabama noticed 83 extra ICU sufferers than ICU beds open statewide. On Wednesday, there have been 94 extra ICU sufferers than beds obtainable.
The Alabama Hospital Affiliation says extra than half of these sufferers are battling COVID-19. Howard says aid can’t come quickly sufficient.
“We’re not chucking up the sponge, however it’s a dire and severe state of affairs,” she mentioned.
The Alabama Hospital Affiliation works day by day with the state well being division and the governor’s workplace to search out workers and sources. Nevertheless, Hurricane Ida has taken a lot of it away; federal medical groups are nonetheless deployed to assist there. They’re urging folks to proceed to socially distance themselves and solely go to the emergency room if it’s a true emergency.