ICU Doctor And Nurse Shortages Loom
Critical care personnel are in demand in 26 states. News outlets also report on other pandemic hazards health care workers face.
ABC News:
26 States Will Soon Face Shortage Of ICU Doctors
They built field hospitals, transformed operating rooms into ICUs, and ingeniously crafted their own ventilators and masks. And now they're strapped for the people who make up a critical care workforce. Researchers at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health found that the majority of states are now at risk for shortages in healthcare workers needed to treat critically ill patients, including those with COVID-19. This week’s report shows alarming projected shortages over last week in doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists. (Stout, 8/10)
NPR:
'I Remember Him With That Smile': Beloved Phoenix Doctor Dies Of COVID-19 At 99
In June, Marcel Lopez and his cousins set up a Zoom video call to say goodbye to their grandfather. Retired physician, José Gabriel López-Plascencia — Dr. López for short — was near death at his home in Phoenix. He was unable to speak, but he let his grandchildren know he was listening. "Every time we talked to him, he'd kick his leg and move his arms to let us know he was hearing us," Marcel says. As they sang his favorite song "Por Un Amor," he noticed over the video call that his grandfather started crying. "I would've loved to have been there holding his hand, just to see him one last time."A few hours later, Dr. López died from complications due to the coronavirus. He had just turned 99. (Hajek, 8/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
This Doctor Understands Her Long-Term Covid Patients—She’s Been One Herself
As head of primary care at University of California, San Francisco, Coleen Kivlahan sees up to 20 Covid patients some days in virtual appointments. Some got infected months ago, but still have persistent symptoms. She understands their experience better than most: She has lived it. (Reddy, 8/10)
Dallas Morning News:
Dallas Lawsuit: Assisted Living Staffer Who Died From COVID-19 Should Have Been Better Protected
The suit was filed in Dallas County district court on Wednesday by Judy Montgomery, the employee’s mother, as well as the victim’s daughters, Taylor Garrette and Nya Patton, according to court records. Montgomery, who was born in Dallas and has surviving family in Dallas, was listed in an Arbor newsletter as being a dietary supervisor. The lawsuit says the company exposed Montgomery to the disease without providing her with adequate personal protective equipment. (Krause, 8/10)
A joint KHN-The Guardian investigation unveils a new tool and data —
Kaiser Health News and The Guardian:
Exclusive: Over 900 Health Workers Have Died Of COVID-19. And The Toll Is Rising.
More than 900 front-line health care workers have died of COVID-19, according to an interactive database unveiled Wednesday by The Guardian and KHN. Lost on the Frontline is a partnership between the two newsrooms that aims to count, verify and memorialize every U.S. health care worker who dies during the pandemic. It is the most comprehensive accounting of U.S. health care workers’ deaths in the country. (Renwick and Dubnow, 8/11)
Kaiser Health News and The Guardian:
Lost On The Frontline: Explore The Interactive Database
Hundreds of U.S. health care workers have died fighting COVID-19. We count them and investigate why.
Kaiser Health News:
Behind The Byline: Producing 'Lost On The Frontline'
In this video series on how KHN stories get made, come along as our producer describes the important, though difficult, responsibility of documenting health care worker deaths due to coronavirus. (8/11)
