Many healthcare workers in California and especially Los Angeles County have been working so hard since the beginning of the pandemic to help each individual patient and their family while also taking care of the people whom they care about, not to mention themselves. However, because of the recent surge in thousands of new COVID-19 cases, healthcare workers—from doctors to nurses to paramedics—are now forced to make difficult decisions every day and are experiencing things that are unfathomable to some. 

Ambulances circle hospitals for hours, searching for places to offload critical patients, “with at least one EMT waiting as long as 17 hours to offload a critical patient,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

The hours spent searching are caused by the surge in COVID-19 cases and an uptick in emergency calls, which leads to more patients in the intensive-care unit and paramedic traffic.

“AMR and Care, the county’s other major ambulance service provider, are responding to a combined 1,500 emergency calls a day, officials said—roughly 30% more than in earlier months of the pandemic, when calls decreased during initial stay-at-home orders. The Los Angeles Fire Department, which provides ambulance services within the city, is responding to roughly 800 to 1,000 emergency medical calls each day,” according to the L.A. Times.

The paramedic situation is so bad that there are discussions of a city policy that will allow paramedics to offload patients to the care of EMT firefighters. The firefighters will then take care of a few patients at a time. However, the policy will only allow paramedics from over-crowded hospitals to offload patients to the EMTs. 

“The county’s directive also advised ambulance crews to not transport patients who have a limited chance of survival—a scenario that is increasingly likely as the number of sick patients climbs,” wrote the L.A. Times.

A rationing of oxygen has also had to have been done a few times before. This, as well as offloading patients to EMT firefighters, is not something that anyone has had to do or decide before. 

The healthcare system has been stretched so thin that it has begun to ration care. Public hospitals have also been told to begin creating a team of “triage officers,” or a team of doctors who will decide which patients are worth continued treatment from the patients who are beyond saving. 

But, the pandemic cannot keep going on as more and more healthcare workers get diagnosed with COVID-19 and as the constant deaths and pressure of the pandemic take a toll on the mental and physical health of frontline healthcare workers.

“Doctors… struggle to take care of their own emotional health while also being a source of support for their colleagues, patients and patients’ families. But that’s becoming a more daunting task as the death count rises and hospital conditions worsen,” wrote the L.A. Times.

“There’s an emotional distress that’s happening that you can’t put words to…I am worried about the next few weeks. I’m scared and I’m scared for all of our staff—I worry for them. Nobody can seem to fill their bucket with good, positive energy,” said Dr. Marwa Kilani, the director of palliative care at a Mission Hills hospital.

“I’m acting as a stand-in to calm the fears of patients who cannot breathe. The look of fear in their eyes is enough to give someone nightmares… It’s emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting,” said Katie Blake, a charge nurse in the progressive care unit at the same hospital as Dr. Kilani.

However, some hope and relief is on the way. 

“More help is expected to arrive soon as 75 Air Force and Army doctors, nurses and other medical personnel have been deployed to California hospitals… according to Army officials,” reported the L.A. Times.

Vaccines are also slowly being distributed to healthcare workers throughout California. But will they come soon enough?

Photo courtesy of LATIMES.COM