I was hospitalized for pancreatitis this week at Providence Regional Hospital in Everett, Washington.
This is the hospital the first Covid-19 patient in the U.S. was treated in. This hospital is one of the few hospitals specially equipped with a lot of high tech stuff for this exact situation, which is one of the reasons he survived. I learned a bit about how it was done from the staff. Only a very small number of people can expect to get treatment like that.
While I was hospitalized I talked with a LOT of doctors and nurses about this virus, ALL of whom were very willing/eager to talk about it, and are VERY concerned.
Here’s a summary of what I learned:
1. The staff described the hospital as in “crisis mode”.
2. They are putting double the normal of nurses/staff on suspected patients, and working hard to protect the staff and other patients. Any staff member who shows symptoms is sent home to self isolate (not sure for how long, but possibly two weeks).
3. They are paying extra for overtime and bonuses in order to attract more staff, but cannot get enough people no matter how hard they try. One of my nurses was flown in from Florida.
4. They are working very hard to keep people like me far away from people they suspect have the virus. No one was allowed on my floor if they had any of the symptoms of Covid-19. However, they were NOT screening visitors, so who knows.
5. They do NOT know how many of their patients have Covid-19. The CDC is partly responsible for this through their earlier failure to provide test kits that work, and their current failure to provide nearly enough test kits to cover the current situation.
6. The state of Washington also shares some of the blame. The state issued rules that greatly restricted who could officially be considered a possible case. Almost no one met the state’s criteria, so even obviously suspicious cases could not be listed as a possible case. The hospital took things into their own hands and treated these people as if they DO have it. (Based on a few news reports, the state may have finally relented a bit on this, but I’m not sure.)
7. The staff told me, unofficially of course, that they were 100% sure they would run out of supplies.
8. I was sent home a day earlier than they would normally have sent someone like me home. The reason is that I have a severe lung condition that makes me a very high risk patient if I happen to catch this virus. The doctors emphasized multiple times that I needed to avoid hospitals and doctor’s offices as much as possible, and should practice social distancing.
9. I was VERY impressed with every person I met at the hospital. They are under a lot of stress and in my opinion, doing a GREAT JOB.
Many thanks to the entire staff at Providence Regional Hospital in Everett, Washington state.
Thank you for that personal hospital experience.
Pretty much confirms what we’ve been reading and hearing about, here.
Glad you are home. Prayers for quick and complete recovery, from your pancreatitis.
Yikes!
Glad you’re OK.
Please be extra careful.
If you go shopping, suggest you go very early, first thing when stores open...like at 6am.
Or try delivery and order non perishables, spray down the box(es), let them sit for a few minutes, then let them ‘age’ in the garage or wherever for a week or so before you open them.
Great report. Really hard to get first hand info on this.
Thanks!
Nice first hand write up.
I posted info on Patient zero that outlined his treatment and blood tests from a medical journal.
He tested negative while in the hospital bed but they thought he was shedding the virus during that time
That is a great first hand account. Both good news and bad news in there.
I hope your pancreatitis is better. That’s not a bay at the beach. I hope you can stay far, far away from that place for a while.
Thanks.
Glad you’re out of the hospital and the report is great...side note...That’s hospital where I was born!
Thankful for your successful discharge and praying for your full recovery and re safety of you and your loved ones.
You KNOW where your hope comes from =o)
In Him
Thanks for the first hand account.