Ever since POTUS 45 legitimized the mainstreaming of blatant lies as an acceptable alternative for the truth, we have observed mass lunacy in the form of the denial of normally authoritative sources of information regarding COVID and vaccines. When physicians have to demonstrate in the streets to draw attention to the exhaustion of the h…
Ever since POTUS 45 legitimized the mainstreaming of blatant lies as an acceptable alternative for the truth, we have observed mass lunacy in the form of the denial of normally authoritative sources of information regarding COVID and vaccines. When physicians have to demonstrate in the streets to draw attention to the exhaustion of the hospital workforce over a disease easily controlled by several available vaccines (the J&J version only takes one shot and does not use the mRNA/viral capsule mechanism), we've sunk to a new low. If we can't trust our doctors to speak the truth, who's left whom we can trust? Shall we ask priests and nuns to opine on medical facts? Shall we go back to questioning the negative health impacts of cigarette smoking? What about driving under the influence of mind altering substances? What about seat belts? How many anti-vax'ers have the same insane distrust of the influenza vaccine? Year by year, flu vaccines are sometimes far less effective than our 3 most widely utilized COVID vaccines and they still limit influenza dramatically from the pre-vaccine era. I'm not angry or outraged, simply saddened and deeply disappointed. When we have ALL been offered the voluntary and FREE opportunity to do the right thing for ourselves and others, on good authority from national experts and nearly universal support of the health care community, our country is still barely over 50% vaccinated when all age groups, all regions and political persuasions included in the count. I didn't realize just how collectively dense and deluded we are as a nation. Freedom to choose does not equate with reasonable, responsible, mature, trusting or any number of other positive attributes that support the selfless and philanthropic act of getting vaccinated.
Well said, sir. As an RN knee deep in the Covid response since March 2020, I can assure you my colleagues and I are exhausted and disheartened. There have been so many needless deaths, it's the equivalent of mass suicide.
Stepping into the language of my former career, I think that while this could be described as mass "suicide", I suspect that there might be a strong case for "mass homicide" in places like Floriduh and Texass (along with some others, but those were the only two I could think of clever misspellings for.)
Southern Oregon, according to the O, is one the nation's hot spots. I was on a thread yesterday with some locals and some of them were opposing mandates, while speaking about the need in some places for field hospitals. One person tried to turn it into a argument about abortion. I had to work hard to remain polite.
That is amazing to me too. A lot of these people are the same people who have complained from the beginning about lockdowns, masks, vaccines, other protocols.
I grew up in Southern Oregon, I have family there still. Those folks are nigh onto crazy. My sister works at a large discount grocer, and is constantly berated about requirements fo shopping there (masks/distancing) that are government mandated. My ex sister-in-law is 10 days out of hospital following a hospitalization for Covid (anti vaccination). They are lunatics.
I have always seen it as place that is beyond the pale and often beyond the law. I just read an article this week about illegal marijuana grows there. I thinking now of the Illinois Valley area. My sojourns to southern Oregon have been to Ashland and Jacksonville and the beautiful awesome Crater Lake. Think we also visited the Oregon Caves. I can't imagine living there. I grew up in northern Indiana and many of my ex-classmates are Trumpers.
Ally, when I first read "...I could think of clever misspellings for," I immediately thought you meant "cleaver." That would be a way of committing suicide. It surely would be a way done by the Taliban.
This made me cry. My nursing colleagues are experiencing moral distress at a magnitude never felt before. Wearing full PPE (not a simple face mask but a tight N95 filter mask, with a respirator hood, covered head to toe in an impermeable gown, gloves, and booties) for 12+ hours, being the surrogate for families at the bedside who can only say their goodbyes to a loved one via an iPad or telephone... this is not work for the feint of heart. We are warriors, indeed, but we are tired. Nurses have been the most trusted profession in America for over 20 years, yet we are now mocked, called 'sheep', and vilified. Our frustration and anger arises from the willful behavior of those who should know better (politicians, and yes, even some renegade health professionals) who have stymied the conquest of this pandemic. I used to believe we were a better people than this, but the truth is now out there.
Wearing full PPE for 12 hours is akin to torture, IMHO. And doing it to care for folks who declined to protect themselves rubs salt into the sacrifice.
My mom was an RN why back when 1930s etc. worked in poorer section of NYC as a public health nurse. # Cannot imagine the sheer frustration alone in being denigrated for DOING YOUR JOB & saving peoples lives. There should be an actual true public outroar towards these people who truly ARE sheep - allowing it to go on & treating all of this as if it were "one side" of the issue - rather than the absolute CAUSE of this pandemic right now is just asinine! Of course you & your colleagues wear full PPE! Thank God for that. The thought (or lack of) process in these individuals - whether "politicians" or folks who follow behind? Beyond belief. Thank you and all others for doing your humane jobs. (sorry not putting as well as I should)
This work is extremely physically demanding in ordinary times. To be doing it in full PPE is beyond description. I only occasionally have to put all that on for a half hour or so at a time to test an ill student and I can barely stand it. I DO NOT know how you and your colleagues are doing it 12+ hours a day over and over and over again. It's incredibly concerning to me that so many nurses are not getting vaccinated themselves, which contributes to others not trusting the vaccine either. So not only are some of us exhausted in every way by the work, but there is also the tension of knowing some of your colleagues, maybe many, depending on where you work, are contributing to the problem. But we bite our tongues for the sake of not making morale any worse.
Well, as of yesterday, with FDA approval of Phizer vaccine, hospitals & nursing homes, schools as well as many other businesses can now make it a condition of employment to get vaccinated. Especially in the health care field is this necessary.
Yes, and I caught a bit of an excellent Q&A session on Maine public radio this afternoon in which the doctor being fielded questions was asked about the mandate in Maine for HCWs to be vaccinated. He very calmly and reasonably explained that for many years being vaccinated and/or tested for several diseases we could unknowingly give to colleagues or patients has been a condition of employment and Covid-19 and the associated vaccines are no different. He maintained that it is still a personal choice; one can choose to accept the conditions of employment or go elsewhere. Loved the low key no nonsense approach.
Just try to remember there are many of us out here who admire, respect and think of you often. Please pass on to your colleagues that you are appreciated and are amazing!
Opponents to vaccination and masks have emphasized their personal rights. But rights alone do not empower doing whatever one wants to do. All rights come with responsibilities. Among the primary responsibilities that we all have is active consideration of the well being of those around us.
One responsibility for not being vaccinated ought to be their covid-related healthcare costs are on them, not the public dole or commercial insurances.
I too am "saddened and deeply disappointed", but conclude that in protection of my loved ones and fellow reasonable citizens, I need to repel these people. They are, in fact, mentally and physically dangerous.
There are multiple reasons why people are hesitant to take the vaccine, so it is not a homogeneous group. But those who are also against masks and other public health measures are the group that needs to be called out. We need to say it like it is: their vaccine hesitancy is because they are afraid, unwilling to take even a small personal risk to help everyone else; and they are against masks because they fear asphyxiating themselves with their own halitosis.
I live in Portland, Oregon. This morning, I visited a hospital for tests needed before major neck surgery next month. I spoke at length with a nurse practitioner, who made no secret of her utter frustration with people who refuse to get vaccinated. "I can't believe we're going through this again," she said, shaking head.
The hospital is packed with Covid patients, most unvaccinated from rural counties and who don't understand that they could be depriving local residents of emergency medical care. She said most of the deaths are people in their 20s and 30s. And, as we've all heard before, some critically ill Covid patients plead for vaccination, only to be told it's too late.
There's a chance my surgery could be delayed because of the Covid surge, she said. If it isn't, my wife must drop me off at the hospital and wait not there but at home to hear from the surgeon. In the end, that's not a big deal unless something goes awry.
Like many critically ill Covid patients, I will be intubated. Of course, some of them never wake up. I will but won't remember the invasive procedure, though a sore throat will be a stark reminder.
Let's face it; hospitals are "concentrators" of sick folk. Hospitals go to great lengths to protect one patient from another, and there is no published evidence I know of claiming that you are more likely to contract COVID by entering a hospital than you are by entering a grocery store. Masks, distancing, hand washing are effective deterrents. Vaccination protects you very well when you enter that environment for elective health care. But, 90% of the disproportionate occupancy of hospital beds and ICU beds by COVID patients would be avoided by preemptive vaccination. Prolonged ventilation of severely injured lungs leads to tracheostomies, durable IV access, feeding tubes and other procedures, which means that critically ill COVID patients are entering operating rooms and other procedural suites as well. A stressed health care delivery system is not the place I'd prefer to receive care if I had a choice in the matter.
Today, Oregon governor Kate Brown reinstated a recommendation for use of masks in outdoor public places due to the Delta varient surge here. Oregon is in the mid-to-upper ranks of states with vaccinated populations, but absolutely not immune to the impacts of a viral surge on the health care industry, particularly hospitals, where the sick are concentrated. An increasing number of reports document breakthrough infections in vaccinated persons, but, thankfully, generally not serious enough to result in hospitalization. My former associates testify to the realities of hospital based practice in our major metropolitan hospitals. I actually do have some insight into the situation; and no hospital is spared. It is not unsafe to enter a hospital, particularly if you are vaccinated, but you'll be in proximity to more ill persons with known COVID than elsewhere in public.
I did, in fact, get your point. If you read carefully, you'll distinguish what I said from fear-mongering. My goal was not to scare anyone, rather to further illuminate consequences of decisions made by persons who haven't availed themselves of vaccination at this point where they are broadly available. The first half of my initial comment today established what I think about the overall safety of entering a hospital. The second half spoke to the level of stress and fatigue that is a current reality in hospitals. You are free to do what you wish, think what you wish, feel what you wish to feel about the facts.
Ever since POTUS 45 legitimized the mainstreaming of blatant lies as an acceptable alternative for the truth, we have observed mass lunacy in the form of the denial of normally authoritative sources of information regarding COVID and vaccines. When physicians have to demonstrate in the streets to draw attention to the exhaustion of the hospital workforce over a disease easily controlled by several available vaccines (the J&J version only takes one shot and does not use the mRNA/viral capsule mechanism), we've sunk to a new low. If we can't trust our doctors to speak the truth, who's left whom we can trust? Shall we ask priests and nuns to opine on medical facts? Shall we go back to questioning the negative health impacts of cigarette smoking? What about driving under the influence of mind altering substances? What about seat belts? How many anti-vax'ers have the same insane distrust of the influenza vaccine? Year by year, flu vaccines are sometimes far less effective than our 3 most widely utilized COVID vaccines and they still limit influenza dramatically from the pre-vaccine era. I'm not angry or outraged, simply saddened and deeply disappointed. When we have ALL been offered the voluntary and FREE opportunity to do the right thing for ourselves and others, on good authority from national experts and nearly universal support of the health care community, our country is still barely over 50% vaccinated when all age groups, all regions and political persuasions included in the count. I didn't realize just how collectively dense and deluded we are as a nation. Freedom to choose does not equate with reasonable, responsible, mature, trusting or any number of other positive attributes that support the selfless and philanthropic act of getting vaccinated.
Well said, sir. As an RN knee deep in the Covid response since March 2020, I can assure you my colleagues and I are exhausted and disheartened. There have been so many needless deaths, it's the equivalent of mass suicide.
Stepping into the language of my former career, I think that while this could be described as mass "suicide", I suspect that there might be a strong case for "mass homicide" in places like Floriduh and Texass (along with some others, but those were the only two I could think of clever misspellings for.)
I have said this before here: Florida Gov and the man he is emulating should be charged with Crimes Against Humanity.
Yes! Mass murder.
Oh, and blessings to you and your "tribe": thank you for all you are doing for all of us.
Southern Oregon, according to the O, is one the nation's hot spots. I was on a thread yesterday with some locals and some of them were opposing mandates, while speaking about the need in some places for field hospitals. One person tried to turn it into a argument about abortion. I had to work hard to remain polite.
It's stunning how disconnected some people see their CHOICE from the consequences.
That is amazing to me too. A lot of these people are the same people who have complained from the beginning about lockdowns, masks, vaccines, other protocols.
I grew up in Southern Oregon, I have family there still. Those folks are nigh onto crazy. My sister works at a large discount grocer, and is constantly berated about requirements fo shopping there (masks/distancing) that are government mandated. My ex sister-in-law is 10 days out of hospital following a hospitalization for Covid (anti vaccination). They are lunatics.
I have always seen it as place that is beyond the pale and often beyond the law. I just read an article this week about illegal marijuana grows there. I thinking now of the Illinois Valley area. My sojourns to southern Oregon have been to Ashland and Jacksonville and the beautiful awesome Crater Lake. Think we also visited the Oregon Caves. I can't imagine living there. I grew up in northern Indiana and many of my ex-classmates are Trumpers.
On my goodness. You are amazing
There IS sort of a comparison that could be made there but not worth the effort is it?
Choice, right? Masking can be a choice, but not abortion...
Jawjah? We have a Moron In Charge, who's leaving masks and vaccines up to the populace, who "have good sense." Maybe not, since our cases are spiking.
Exactly!
Ally, when I first read "...I could think of clever misspellings for," I immediately thought you meant "cleaver." That would be a way of committing suicide. It surely would be a way done by the Taliban.
With gratitude, admiration, and the wish that people wake up and get the shot.
thank you, me too!
May I suggest you read Dan Rather's letter:
https://steady.substack.com/p/dear-american-healthcare-workers/comments
This made me cry. My nursing colleagues are experiencing moral distress at a magnitude never felt before. Wearing full PPE (not a simple face mask but a tight N95 filter mask, with a respirator hood, covered head to toe in an impermeable gown, gloves, and booties) for 12+ hours, being the surrogate for families at the bedside who can only say their goodbyes to a loved one via an iPad or telephone... this is not work for the feint of heart. We are warriors, indeed, but we are tired. Nurses have been the most trusted profession in America for over 20 years, yet we are now mocked, called 'sheep', and vilified. Our frustration and anger arises from the willful behavior of those who should know better (politicians, and yes, even some renegade health professionals) who have stymied the conquest of this pandemic. I used to believe we were a better people than this, but the truth is now out there.
Wearing full PPE for 12 hours is akin to torture, IMHO. And doing it to care for folks who declined to protect themselves rubs salt into the sacrifice.
My mom was an RN why back when 1930s etc. worked in poorer section of NYC as a public health nurse. # Cannot imagine the sheer frustration alone in being denigrated for DOING YOUR JOB & saving peoples lives. There should be an actual true public outroar towards these people who truly ARE sheep - allowing it to go on & treating all of this as if it were "one side" of the issue - rather than the absolute CAUSE of this pandemic right now is just asinine! Of course you & your colleagues wear full PPE! Thank God for that. The thought (or lack of) process in these individuals - whether "politicians" or folks who follow behind? Beyond belief. Thank you and all others for doing your humane jobs. (sorry not putting as well as I should)
This work is extremely physically demanding in ordinary times. To be doing it in full PPE is beyond description. I only occasionally have to put all that on for a half hour or so at a time to test an ill student and I can barely stand it. I DO NOT know how you and your colleagues are doing it 12+ hours a day over and over and over again. It's incredibly concerning to me that so many nurses are not getting vaccinated themselves, which contributes to others not trusting the vaccine either. So not only are some of us exhausted in every way by the work, but there is also the tension of knowing some of your colleagues, maybe many, depending on where you work, are contributing to the problem. But we bite our tongues for the sake of not making morale any worse.
Well, as of yesterday, with FDA approval of Phizer vaccine, hospitals & nursing homes, schools as well as many other businesses can now make it a condition of employment to get vaccinated. Especially in the health care field is this necessary.
Yes, and I caught a bit of an excellent Q&A session on Maine public radio this afternoon in which the doctor being fielded questions was asked about the mandate in Maine for HCWs to be vaccinated. He very calmly and reasonably explained that for many years being vaccinated and/or tested for several diseases we could unknowingly give to colleagues or patients has been a condition of employment and Covid-19 and the associated vaccines are no different. He maintained that it is still a personal choice; one can choose to accept the conditions of employment or go elsewhere. Loved the low key no nonsense approach.
Just try to remember there are many of us out here who admire, respect and think of you often. Please pass on to your colleagues that you are appreciated and are amazing!
Thank you
Thanks, really good intelligent read.
I read your comment, Nancy, too quickly and thought the last sentence said "needle-less" deaths. Same thing, actually.
true that, so to speak!
with admiration and peace.
Thank you
I know you've done your best. This pandemic has certainly shown us who are reasonably sane and heroic. Thank you for being you.
I cannot even imagine. Thank you.
thank you
Exactly 💯
Nathan, 💯💯❤️ I love your comment. Thank you for saying it so well. 🙏
Simply put, if everyone would just "do the right thing" there would be no need for mandates.
Simply put, if everyone would just "do the right thing" we wouldn't need any laws and enforcement. Not reality though.
Opponents to vaccination and masks have emphasized their personal rights. But rights alone do not empower doing whatever one wants to do. All rights come with responsibilities. Among the primary responsibilities that we all have is active consideration of the well being of those around us.
One responsibility for not being vaccinated ought to be their covid-related healthcare costs are on them, not the public dole or commercial insurances.
I too am "saddened and deeply disappointed", but conclude that in protection of my loved ones and fellow reasonable citizens, I need to repel these people. They are, in fact, mentally and physically dangerous.
There are multiple reasons why people are hesitant to take the vaccine, so it is not a homogeneous group. But those who are also against masks and other public health measures are the group that needs to be called out. We need to say it like it is: their vaccine hesitancy is because they are afraid, unwilling to take even a small personal risk to help everyone else; and they are against masks because they fear asphyxiating themselves with their own halitosis.
I live in Portland, Oregon. This morning, I visited a hospital for tests needed before major neck surgery next month. I spoke at length with a nurse practitioner, who made no secret of her utter frustration with people who refuse to get vaccinated. "I can't believe we're going through this again," she said, shaking head.
The hospital is packed with Covid patients, most unvaccinated from rural counties and who don't understand that they could be depriving local residents of emergency medical care. She said most of the deaths are people in their 20s and 30s. And, as we've all heard before, some critically ill Covid patients plead for vaccination, only to be told it's too late.
There's a chance my surgery could be delayed because of the Covid surge, she said. If it isn't, my wife must drop me off at the hospital and wait not there but at home to hear from the surgeon. In the end, that's not a big deal unless something goes awry.
Like many critically ill Covid patients, I will be intubated. Of course, some of them never wake up. I will but won't remember the invasive procedure, though a sore throat will be a stark reminder.
Michael, hope you will post here a day or two before you go to the hospital. I would like us to be in touch. Salud!
Thank you. Will do.
Let's face it; hospitals are "concentrators" of sick folk. Hospitals go to great lengths to protect one patient from another, and there is no published evidence I know of claiming that you are more likely to contract COVID by entering a hospital than you are by entering a grocery store. Masks, distancing, hand washing are effective deterrents. Vaccination protects you very well when you enter that environment for elective health care. But, 90% of the disproportionate occupancy of hospital beds and ICU beds by COVID patients would be avoided by preemptive vaccination. Prolonged ventilation of severely injured lungs leads to tracheostomies, durable IV access, feeding tubes and other procedures, which means that critically ill COVID patients are entering operating rooms and other procedural suites as well. A stressed health care delivery system is not the place I'd prefer to receive care if I had a choice in the matter.
Today, Oregon governor Kate Brown reinstated a recommendation for use of masks in outdoor public places due to the Delta varient surge here. Oregon is in the mid-to-upper ranks of states with vaccinated populations, but absolutely not immune to the impacts of a viral surge on the health care industry, particularly hospitals, where the sick are concentrated. An increasing number of reports document breakthrough infections in vaccinated persons, but, thankfully, generally not serious enough to result in hospitalization. My former associates testify to the realities of hospital based practice in our major metropolitan hospitals. I actually do have some insight into the situation; and no hospital is spared. It is not unsafe to enter a hospital, particularly if you are vaccinated, but you'll be in proximity to more ill persons with known COVID than elsewhere in public.
I did, in fact, get your point. If you read carefully, you'll distinguish what I said from fear-mongering. My goal was not to scare anyone, rather to further illuminate consequences of decisions made by persons who haven't availed themselves of vaccination at this point where they are broadly available. The first half of my initial comment today established what I think about the overall safety of entering a hospital. The second half spoke to the level of stress and fatigue that is a current reality in hospitals. You are free to do what you wish, think what you wish, feel what you wish to feel about the facts.
Well said, Nathan.
beautifully written