The number of active COVID patients is lower today at The University of Kansas Health System. 50 patients with the active virus are being treated, down from 55 yesterday. Two COVID patients died yesterday. 16 patients are in the ICU, the same as yesterday, and only two are vaccinated. Nine are on ventilators, the same as yesterday. 50 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 45 yesterday. That’s a total of 100 patients, the same as yesterday. HaysMed has 14 patients, the same as yesterday.
To put things in perspective, last year on Labor Day the health system had 21 patients with active COVID infections, compared to about 60 this year. As of today, just nine days into September, there have been 18 deaths, compared to 17 in the whole month of September last year. And in August of this year, the health system had 37 deaths, compared to 18 in August of last year.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, a self-proclaimed "good ol' family doc” from Abilene, Kansas whose patient made national news recently when the closest transfer space available was 570 miles away. He told that story and discussed efforts to get folks in his neck of the woods to mask and get vaccinated.
Imagine you’re a doctor in a small town and patients are threatening you unless you give them hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin, a livestock dewormer, for COVID. That’s actually happening to Dr. Brian Holmes, medical director of the ER and lab at Memorial Health Systems in the north central Kansas town of Abilene. With only 52 percent of the residents vaccinated, he says, “We have a lot of folks out here that unfortunately don’t trust medicine or don’t trust the government, and it’s created some chaos for us and division within our communities. But we keep beating the drum and try to get the message out that the vaccines are safe, they’re fully FDA approved now for Pfizer, and by far you’re more likely to have issues with getting COVID and complications with that than you are with getting the vaccine.” He tries to have an open and honest conversation with patients who aren’t convinced. But he admits, “It’s very disheartening to work your whole career and basically trying to keep people healthy and aware of public safety issues, and to then have that discredited. You know, it’s soured a lot of people in our profession.” He adds, “It doesn’t make sense to have political fights on masks. It’s a tool that we use every day in healthcare and it’s not a political statement. It’s been way too divisive across the country, and we’ve got to get past that in order to move forward.” He and other small communities face another problem because of mask and vaccine resistance. Due to the increase in COVID patients, there’s a lack of beds to treat critically ill people. Dr. Holmes and his team recently made national news when they had to spend five or six hours on the phone to find an ICU bed for a critically ill patient, and finally found one in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 570 miles away. The patient had to be stabilized and sedated for the flight, which Dr. Holmes called, “an ordeal.” He explains a COVID patient may take up an ICU bed for weeks or even longer when a typical ICU patient is only there for a day or two. He’s worried the current surge may cause small hospitals like his to ration care, and he says nobody wants to have to pick and choose which patients to treat. Staffing is also a problem, especially in small communities, as many are getting burned out and leaving the profession. He also worries about the children, especially those under 12 who can’t yet get the vaccine. He says it’s just a matter of time before sending maskless, unvaccinated kids to schools with poor ventilation for hours at a time backfires on us. Working in emergency medicine as he does, he says, “I get to see some of the tragic stories that unfold in true life right in front of you as these people that are unvaccinated come in. These are healthy, hardworking, you know, normal Americans that are suffering needlessly. It’s just…it’s overwhelming sometimes emotionally to us.” He adds that even if a patient is unvaccinated, they will still get the same level of care as a vaccinated patient. His main point is, “We have to quit the politics. I think we have to get away from ‘all about me and my rights and my personal freedoms,’ and get back to let’s think about the community at large. What is good for the community, our public safety? Doing the right things maybe not always be the popular things with some of the people you talk to, but the right things in order to take care of all of us.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, pointed to new studies coming out that show getting vaccinated will reduce your need to be hospitalized from COVID by 90 percent. He explained what ECMO is, how it takes over for a patient’s heart and lungs, and is basically some COVID patients’ last hope of survival. It takes specialized medical staff only found in big city hospitals such as the health system. He says word of a shortage of monoclonal antibody treatment in Kansas City is not true. He also says unless you are immunocompromised, there is no need to worry about getting a booster shot right now. As for those who still think ivermectin is a treatment for COVID, he says it’s not just our opinion, but statements from the FDA, the Infectious Disease Society of America and the World Health Organization that say people should not be using it, especially since there has been no research or clinical trials involving the drug.
Friday, September 10 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. We continue our talk about COVID with a former Chiefs player turned Chiefs team physician. Dr. J.P. Darche joins us to talk about playing with the Chiefs, returning as a team doctor and his close connection to physician and Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.
NOTE: Journalists should rejoin the Morning Medical Update at 8am as doctors are growing too busy again for individual interview requests. Please bring questions or send to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu until further notice. Thanks for all you do and helping to keep the community safe with your reporting.
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