Forwarded from a dear friend: This was posted by Chetana Daniels (daughter of Fairfield’s Susan and Bob Daniels) who’s a Nurse Practitioner in the University of Iowa Medical Intensive Care Unit:
Having one of our parents admitted to our ICU is our worst nightmare. What is an even bigger nightmare is the possibility that our sick parent won't be able to receive the highest level of care because the hospital is overrun.. This is what we are facing now. Never in my 5+ years in the MICU have I seen a waiting list as long as we have. We are opening another 10 ICU beds next Monday, but we have enough patients seeking care at UIHC to fill them today. With the way things are going across the state, we will soon be making decisions about who will receive care and who we will have to deny. The kind of moral distress this is going to cause healthcare workers is enough to make them find a new career. My biggest fear is that I will see the name of someone from my community on the wait list, and they will be denied or delayed a transfer long enough to negatively impact their chances of a meaningful recovery. Please do whatever you can to stay home, wear good masks, wash your hands, and make your family do the same.
