Posted on Dec 15, 2022
Children's hospitals are struggling to cope with a surge of respiratory illness
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/15/ [login to see] /childrens-hospitals-are-struggling-to-cope-with-a-surge-of-respiratory-illness
Waiting for their turn in the ER, dazed-looking parents in winter coats bounce crying children in their arms, trying to catch the eye of Dr. Erica Michiels. Us! Pick us next! they seem to plead with tired eyes.
Michiels directs pediatric emergency medicine at Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lips pressed together in a thin line, she surveys what she calls the "disaster" area.
"People have been out here waiting for a couple hours, which is heartbreaking," she says.
Waiting for their turn in the ER, dazed-looking parents in winter coats bounce crying children in their arms, trying to catch the eye of Dr. Erica Michiels. Us! Pick us next! they seem to plead with tired eyes.
Michiels directs pediatric emergency medicine at Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lips pressed together in a thin line, she surveys what she calls the "disaster" area.
"People have been out here waiting for a couple hours, which is heartbreaking," she says.
Children's hospitals are struggling to cope with a surge of respiratory illness
Posted from npr.org
Children
Medical
Health
Posted 2 y ago
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I hope that they overcome those challenges with more staff to assist them!
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A couple of months ago, we experienced this with our 3yr old grandson. My wife and daughter are very familiar with performing "breathing treatments", which was needed for our grandson. The breathing treatments my daughter and son-in-law performed, (albuterol) didn't help him.
They took him to an ER 45 minutes from our home (we all live in the same farm home in rural Missouri). After about two hours there, he got an ambulance ride from Bolivar to Springfield.
The meds they used to treat my grandson, can only be given in a hospital, by a medical professional, because the side affect is it increases the patient's heart rate. My grandson spent two days at Cox hospital in Springfield, before they were able to get him stable and able to come back home. The diagnosis, he had two viruses, the one that causes croup and another cold virus, that when combined, hit my grandson really hard.
We have several medical professionals in our family at various locations, and we often hear that staffing has become very difficult. If you're a nurse or CNA, you can pretty much pick where you want to work, because most facilities are looking to hire.
They took him to an ER 45 minutes from our home (we all live in the same farm home in rural Missouri). After about two hours there, he got an ambulance ride from Bolivar to Springfield.
The meds they used to treat my grandson, can only be given in a hospital, by a medical professional, because the side affect is it increases the patient's heart rate. My grandson spent two days at Cox hospital in Springfield, before they were able to get him stable and able to come back home. The diagnosis, he had two viruses, the one that causes croup and another cold virus, that when combined, hit my grandson really hard.
We have several medical professionals in our family at various locations, and we often hear that staffing has become very difficult. If you're a nurse or CNA, you can pretty much pick where you want to work, because most facilities are looking to hire.
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This has been a crisis for months now. Should be front page news. Health care burnout is real; admin & CEO pay increases while the actual staff get the shaft.
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