Posted on 09/24/2021 9:56:30 PM PDT by 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....
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
probably right on the number of ICU beds. some of the towns have unstaffed hospitals and only an EMT to stabilize an emergency long enough to evacuate by air.
I can’t really speak to it, but I’d just guess that most insured in AK have lifeflight insurance, and it’s not uncommon to transfer to WA, so maybe a deductible or not. If the patient can survive the delay and the transport, odds are good. :)
Very specialized/expensive device (not a type of “ventilator”...more like a heart/lung machine):
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/ecmo/about/pac-20484615
https://khn.org/news/miracle-machine-makes-heroic-rescues-and-leaves-patients-in-limbo/
Yes, taking into account the inclination of the sun. And it snowed this afternoon in downtown Anchorage but didn’t stick.
they are dementia patients or alcoholics or homeless with a hx of drug abuse....their families will not take them and most nursing homes do not want the expense of dementia/drug/alcholic patients.....
probably about 15% nationwide...
I'm sure all these stats are padded....
in the hospital "with" covid is different then in the hospital because of covid...
Under 50 degrees, the good vitamin D UV starts bouncing off the atmosphere.
Is salmon a big part of the Alaskan diet?
Lot of natural D there...
Lucky that Washington State is experiencing a drop in cases and deaths right now:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/washington/
That is incorrect. Alaska has no requirement for being vaccinated in order to enter the state. Cruise ship companies may have a vax policy, but that has nothing to do with the State of Alaska. There is no vax requirement to fly into Alaska, or to fly out.
Stop mandating the vaxx and people will stop quitting, which causes shortages.
>> but the hospitals aren’t prepared 15 months later?
Top-heavy, self-serving ACA operations.
Think it is bad now, wait until all of the millions here illegally start receiving their FREE healthcare. Free to them, not to us.
This year they say biden will bring in 2 million illegals. Under the “Family Reunification Act” they each get to bring in an unlimited number of family members. Usually they bring in 10-12 each. That means that this year alone we get not just the 2 million but 22 million. And biden has more than 3 years to go.
I do not understand since, according to the libs, we are the most racist, and horrible country in the world. So much so that even the UN is going to tell us so. Why would so many want to come here? S/O
Well someone doesn’t know what they are talking about... ECMO machines in Alaska:
https://www.providence.org/about/initiatives/clinical-institutes/heart-institute/locations
https://d.facebook.com/LifeMedAlaska/photos/a.494495940640964/1761811937242685/?type=3&__tn__=EH-R
This one is interesting. Got the shot. Railed about getting the vaccine. Now dead after cardiologist admitted her Could be unrelated
Her name on twitter
Karen croake heisler
Yep..that is her name on twitter
Don’t forget the mother in the induced coma, who must be woken up and told that her beloved child has died of Covid due to a lack of vaccination.
Thanks for giving voice to the scandalized English-speaking rubes in the cheap seats.
I really liked the khn article. Thanks.
also from khn:
““There are plenty of ECMO machines — it’s people who know how to run it,” said Dr. Robert Bartlett, a retired surgeon at the University of Michigan who helped pioneer the technology...It’s a fairly high-risk intervention with little room for error. And it requires a round-the-clock team.”
I looked up salary ranges for an ECMO tech in AK and it’s around $100K on a natural career path progression
https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/ecmo-specialist-salary/ak
Yep, new tech requires new job categories...when I was in college in the early ‘80’s it was a need for “electron microscopy” techs/operators.
Thank you for this. Nadir is the bottom, not the top. Basic editing is dead.
Hospitals say 92% unvaxxed.
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