‘It’s awful. It’s exhausting’: Alaska rations care as it hits Covid nadir

The Guardian UK ^ | 24 September 2021 | Melody Schreiber

[blueplum]

Health systems in Alaska are at a breaking point, and the Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, has activated crisis standards of care for the entire state, joining all of Idaho and part of Montana in rationing medical care.

Alaska now has the highest rate of Covid in America..

...There are no life-support machines, known as ECMO, in the entire state of Alaska, which means very sick patients need to be transferred to hospitals in western states, which have been experiencing their own increases in cases. “As we’ve seen decreased beds across the country, including Seattle and Portland, we’ve been unable to, or seen significant delays, in transferring people to the lower 48,” Zink said.

“Geography really is a huge challenge,” Zink said. The average Alaskan travels 147 miles each way to access care, and many communities are accessible only by plane, where weather delays can present yet another hurdle....

[blueplum]

posting this to bring attention to the claim that there are no ECMO machines, or techs who know how to use them, in the entire state.

Way to go, Biden.

[Tennessee Nana]

Interesting ... Alaska has a high % jabbed and they dont let anyone in unless they are jabbed ... Cant fly in cant cruise from Seattle unless you are FULLY jabbed...

So all the jabbed people are getting the Wu Hu Flu..

[BenLurkin]

Fifteen days to give the hospitals a chance to prepare for a surge, but the hospitals aren’t prepared 15 months later?

[bluejean]

Isn’t it the Wu Hu Mu Flu now? Or have we moved on to Pu already?

[Tennessee Nana]

Its a pile of caca about the variants...

[goodnesswins]

Does this mean less people will be put on ventilators? Hhmmmm...maybe less people will die...?

[garandgal]

In a normal world, Alaska would be a perfect place to try some of the early treatment protocols. We would quickly see if they work. Which is why it won't be done.

[Repeal The 17th]

na·dir
/ˈnādər,ˈnādir/
noun
...the lowest point...

[kiryandil]

Anchorage, Alaska lost its vitamin D sun on July 15th.

[DSH]

Interesting ... Alaska has a high % jabbed and they dont let anyone in unless they are jabbed ... Cant fly in cant cruise from Seattle unless you are FULLY jabbed...

So all the jabbed people are getting the Wu Hu Flu..

What is also interesting is that, as of September 17, per the CDC's own data, approximately 36% of Alaska's staffed ICU beds were occupied by COVID patients. In Montana it was approximately 46%. In Idaho it was 61%.

If there is truly any medical "crisis" in any of those states, I would postulate that the responsibility rests with incompetent medical and public health managers there on the scene. Everything else is just politically-driven hysteria to keep the false "pandemic" narrative going.

[blueplum]

Alaska folks got off to a good start especially in the pop centers but stalled out at 58% overall, all ages 47% with remote areas skewing the averages. Over 90% in cities..

AK dashboard:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/b2f5a105a41c4ca88024efbc2c2e868f/

[ifinnegan]

It’s ludicrous. Numbers of cases and deaths make no sense.

[blueplum]

here’s a local article from today that claims, “Across the state, only 16 ICU beds remain available.” (down at the bottom of the article)

I’m not sure but I think Alaska has a total of 137 ICU beds in the entire state. I could be wrong on that?

http://www.nomenugget.net/news/alaska-sees-spike-covid-19

[Steve_Seattle]

Alaska doesn’t have a very high percentage of vaccinated people compared to many states, but it’s still over 50% vaccinated. But it ranks 48th LOWEST in Covid deaths per million population, way below most of the heavily vaccinated states.

[Steve_Seattle]

"nadir - the lowest point"

I see you noticed that too.

[DoodleBob]

This isn't a real article.

Everyone knows, there MUST be a quote from a weepy nurse, telling how she had a soon-to-die unvaxxed patient beg for the shots, but she said "no, hon...it's too late."

There should also be a doctor in the article, who says no he won't treat unvaxxed COVID19 patients. "I refuse to waste money on high-cost therapies when the patient turned down a low cost prophylactic." That doctor will then perform a costly abortion on a baby conceived because the parents didn't use low-cost birth control or cost less abstinence.

[Tennessee Nana]

Isnt it odd that none of the weeping nurses ever report that the patient begged for Ivermectin, HCQ, monoclonal antibodies etc

[jonrick46]

"Central Peninsula recently had a patient who needed a high level of care, but all the facilities in Alaska that could have provided it were full. Health administrators started calling west coast hospitals, eventually finding a bed in Portland."

I hope this unfortunate patient will get well. I wonder what the air travel and special treatment is going to cost?

[Brian Griffin]

“ECMO stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The ECMO machine is similar to the heart-lung by-pass machine used in open-heart surgery. It pumps and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest. When you are connected to an ECMO, blood flows through tubing to an artificial lung in the machine that adds oxygen and takes out carbon dioxide; then the blood is warmed to body temperature and pumped back into your body.”

https://www.ucsfhealth.org/treatments/extracorporeal-membrane-oxygenation

“USCF is also now using a smaller portable ECMO device that is light enough to be carried by one person and can be transported in an ambulance or helicopter, making it possible to provide ECMO relief in emergency cases.”

[Prince of Space]

Why does nobody ever bring up the fact that maybe we need to build more hospitals? At least buy some medical tents that can be brought out if the demand requires more room. Hospitals are like hotels in that they like to run with a high occupancy rate in the first place tho. Then they cry wolf when they get close to 90% occupancy, but they don’t tell you they normally have 60-75% occupancy.