The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 57 COVID patients today, up from 56 yesterday. Other significant numbers:
- 32 with the active virus today, 34 yesterday
- 3 in ICU, 3 yesterday
- 1 on ventilator, 2 yesterday
- 25 hospitalized but out of acute infection phase, 22 yesterday
Key points from today’s guests:
Tony Gutierrez, COVID patient
- Contracted COVID and spent 83 days in the intensive care unit
- Needed to be put on a ventilator because lungs were shutting down
- Was in a coma for much of his stay
- Eventually recovered and feels great today with few side effects
- Was not vaccinated at the time because he had too many questions about the vaccine. Is now fully vaccinated
- As a minister, he presided at the wedding of one of his nurses
- Credits the power of prayer for helping through the ordeal.
Candace Gutierrez, wife, documented Tony’s stay
- Due to COVID restrictions, was not allowed to be in room with Tony for the first two weeks
- Once inside, began taking photos hoping to have a record of the stay to share someday with Tony and the family
- Even when Tony was in a coma, spoke to him every day
- Helped Tony through slow process of recovery, which included relearning to talk, walk and feed himself
Dr. Matthew Sharpe, critical care specialist, The University of Kansas Health System
- Says Tony was as critically ill as a person can be and still be alive
- Because lungs were failing, was considering Tony for ECMO, a machine which takes over the breathing and heart functions, often seen as a last resort
- Thankfully, Tony’s lungs began to improve and ECMO was not needed
- Did have to put Tony on a ventilator to give him enough oxygen until lungs improved
- COVID caused a large number of patients to be put on ventilators and ECMO, but not all survived like Tony
- Does not think Tony will have any long-term effects, but he’s one of the lucky ones as many patients still have chronic lung problems
John Sorrick, respiratory therapist, The University of Kansas Health System
- Recalls at the height of the COVID surge, had multiple patients like Tony to care for each day
- Described proning, a carefully choreographed procedure in which a patient is turned over and facing down, sometimes for up to 16 hours at a time. This helps use the back function of the lungs instead of the front.
- The technique has been around for a long time but had fallen out of favor because of its mortality rate. But during COVID, many patients had no other options and respiratory therapy teams had to do it for multiple patients each day.
- The job was difficult, especially in the early days, because often the respiratory therapists were the only ones able to be constantly at the bedside with patients
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- Noted that many people are just now getting their first COVID vaccines
- Says this could have an impact on the severity of COVID this winter
- Even though the CDC says universal masking can be dropped in some nursing homes and hospitals, only about one fourth of healthcare settings around the nation would qualify. Masks are still needed in a vast majority of healthcare settings.
Wednesday, September 28 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Open Mics With Dr. Stites. People either love COVID vaccines or hate them. But there's no question they've made a difference in this pandemic. We're going to stick to the science as we welcome Dr. Greg Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. We'll look at where we are with vaccines and where we're headed in our fight against COVID.
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