It is not unknown what kind of havoc the COVID-19 had made last year and rejuvenated itself to strike back with a new Omicron variant which has again sent people into a space of unrest both physically and mentally.
Other Health Problems Being Overlooked Due To Omicron Surge
A large number of hospitalizations have been due to people being affected by the Omicron Variant which is creating busy schedules at the hospitals or medical facilities, in-process people with other emergencies have to keep waiting because COVID-19 is considered a worldwide problem now. Many people came up and spoke up about the matter. The distress among people was quite clearly visible.
What did Mat Gleason have to say?
According to Mat Gleason, he went to the Los Angeles area’s emergency room with his 92-year old wheelchair-bound father named, Eugene Gleason for a blood transfusion for treating a blood disorder. The act of the transfusion took 48 hours whereas it is a job of only 7- 10 hours. It was after 10 hours that his father called him for a blanket. Mat came and saw that there were a lot of people waiting there. After all, this Mat even acknowledged the hospital staff for managing the situation and said that they did a great job even in that attendance.
What was Rick Pollack’s take on the matter?
Rick Pollack (CEO and president of the American Hospital Association), as per his assessment of the topic, the surge of Omicron has put a large effect on the non- COVID-19 health problems and the patients suffering from them. He also said that there were already shortages of medical workers before the pandemic but now situations are worsened as many workers are out with COVID-19 creating a larger crisis. He concluded by mentioning that there was 23% of hospitals in the nation reported staff shortages.
Here were the perspectives of a patient and an administrative person who sees the working of hospitals. These perspectives were just a comparison of different problems that both sides had to face. Tuesday reported an average of 144,000 COVID-19 infected people admitted in the hospital, which was the highest US had seen. New York and Connecticut saw a comparatively less number of patients but the situations elsewhere were not pleasant.
So as an overview of what the people have to say, we bring you two perspectives.
The Patients Point of View
• The patients who had non-COVID-19 suffering had to wait for around three times more than the normal time needed for their treatments. Some even reported a wait of 2 days.
• The patients also acknowledged the hard work of the staff as they never let the patients feel unattended.
• Some patients such as Roger Strukhoff who had intestinal bleeding and was getting treated for it suddenly suffered a mild heart attack. This made the doctors bring a heart monitor in his room and give him nitroglycerine and morphine as the ICU was filled with COVID-19 patients. Roger thanked the doctors and staff for saving his life.
The Medical Workers Point of View
• They were still efficient even without all people staff being present.
• They saved many lives in this tough situation and are considered heroes among people.
• Many medical workers could not come due to them being affected by the COVID-19 virus. We hope they recover soon as we need heroes like them to be present.
Conclusion
The non-covid patients have to suffer because of the increased covid-19 patients in the hospitals even though reports say that the people with covid are not as seriously affected as they were during the last year. Omicron is said to be mild as compared to the previous variant. One thing that should be kept in mind is that the medical workers have worked very hard to handle situations and should not be criticized. Their dedication should be respected and valued.
