The University of Kansas Health System is looking back at the three-year anniversary of the first COVID patient admitted.
Key points from today’s guests:
Bethan Ulin, registered nurse, The University of Kansas Health System
- Bethan had only been a nurse for six months and was in the ICU when COVID hit.
- The impact on the hospital staff was difficult as she said there were days they had to take body bags from other units and how horrible that was.
- They did everything they could to keep working to do whatever they could for COVID patients.
- They also helped keep patients in contact with family through iPads (no visitors in the hospital) and many times those were final goodbyes and it was very difficult to be a part of.
Richard Ulin, respiratory therapist
- Everything was changing every day at the hospital.
- One of the many new things they did was “proning” for patients – taking COVID patients and flipping them on their stomachs to get more air flow to parts of their lungs.
- It involved a big team effort to manage the ventilator and the lines going into the patient.
- Richard and Bethan bonded over their work and begin dating and found inspiration in COVID patient Tony and his wife Candice to eventually get married and have a child.
Tony Gutierrez, former COVID patient
- COVID hit Tony hard in the early days of the pandemic – he was in the hospital for three months
- The pastor, husband, and father of three was an inspiration to the hospital department staff to do whatever they needed to do to get Tony back to good health and back home.
- Bethan and Richard, two members of his care team were dating and he promised to officiate their wedding when he recovered. He did and performed the ceremony in their back yard.
- “Waking up from being in the ICU and being on the ventilator is different than the movies you don't just wake up and you're ready to go. It's been a process…it's making me choose healthier habits, go into the gym, do different things to just make my body move. I'm just so grateful to be alive.”
Candice Gutierrez, Tony’s wife
- To see Tony go from being healthy to on a ventilator and at risk of dying so quickly was a horrible feeling.
- She could not be there in person, so she had to keep in touch with him via Facetime.
- She is so thankful for everyone at the hospital who took care of Tony – and her – to make sure they were taken care of like their own family.
- “The nurses, the doctors, they just took care of every part of him. I just wanted to say thank you to Unit 61 -- every doctor, nurse, housekeeping -- everything was just so well taken care of. They're just so many different sacrifices that the healthcare system made for us strangers and I just never get tired of saying thank you for just doing your best, for showing up, for loving, for being my friend, and saying the truth and being the hope, and just doing everything you could do.”
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Hospital
- Looking back at the stats, there were 250 COVID patients in beds at the hospital three years ago and that is an unbelievable number.
- He was genuinely worried about the ability to provide adequate care for the people of Kansas City – not just COVID patients – but the other “regular” patients with strokes and heart attacks.
- The Health System team knew this was coming as they tracked COVID movements throughout the world and begin preparations, but it was still stunning to experience it first-hand.
- The effective vaccinations saved us all.
- Dr. Stites thanks all of the Morning Medical Update viewers who listened and were a part of this program -- the intersection of faith, hope and science is a powerful place.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, The University of Kansas Health System
- From March 2020 to now, the Health System stats on COVID include:
- 5,674 unique COVID patients
- 6,372 COVID admissions
- 1,406 ICU COVID patients
- 835 ventilated COVID patients
- 1,134 COVID deaths
- Average COVID patient age of 57 (the average age has increased significantly over the past year)
- It is good that we are transitioning more to pre-pandemic life, but there are still steps to take and we have to remember that the disease is still out there.
- Please take your personal health into that consideration and understand your risk.
- Be up to date with your vaccinations and get tested early if you think you have COVID so you can get those oral antivirals to help reduce your risk of severe disease and death. Those things do work and we would like to continue to move forward.
Friday, March 10 is the next Morning Medical Update. Imagine the problems when your face stops working. It's hard to eat, talk and even smile. We’ll show you the state-of-the-art treatments for facial paralysis that are getting people back to life and back to smiling.
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