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‘It’s awful. It’s exhausting’: Alaska rations care as it hits Covid nadir
The Guardian UK ^ | 24 September 2021 | Melody Schreiber

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 ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: alaska; ccpvirus; crisiscare; ecmo; pandemic; waronalaska
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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.

1 posted on 09/24/2021 9:56:30 PM PDT by blueplum
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To: blueplum

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..


2 posted on 09/24/2021 9:59:19 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: blueplum

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


3 posted on 09/24/2021 10:01:03 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: Tennessee Nana

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


4 posted on 09/24/2021 10:01:18 PM PDT by bluejean (Living one day at a time in the national psych ward.)
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To: bluejean

Its a pile of caca about the variants...


5 posted on 09/24/2021 10:03:15 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: blueplum

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


6 posted on 09/24/2021 10:03:38 PM PDT by goodnesswins (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolyution." -- Saul Alinksy)
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To: blueplum
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.
7 posted on 09/24/2021 10:04:13 PM PDT by garandgal
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To: blueplum

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


8 posted on 09/24/2021 10:04:49 PM PDT by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: Tennessee Nana

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


9 posted on 09/24/2021 10:06:40 PM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: 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..

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.

10 posted on 09/24/2021 10:10:27 PM PDT by DSH
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To: Tennessee Nana

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/


11 posted on 09/24/2021 10:12:09 PM PDT by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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To: blueplum

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


12 posted on 09/24/2021 10:25:50 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: DSH

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


13 posted on 09/24/2021 10:27:25 PM PDT by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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To: Tennessee Nana

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.


14 posted on 09/24/2021 10:27:29 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Repeal The 17th
"nadir - the lowest point"

I see you noticed that too.
15 posted on 09/24/2021 10:29:46 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Tennessee Nana
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.

16 posted on 09/24/2021 10:33:30 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: DoodleBob

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


17 posted on 09/24/2021 10:40:15 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: blueplum
"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?

18 posted on 09/24/2021 10:42:23 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Leftnicks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
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To: blueplum

“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.”


19 posted on 09/24/2021 10:52:46 PM PDT by Brian Griffin ( )
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To: DSH

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.


20 posted on 09/24/2021 10:57:32 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Irish lives matter!)
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