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Since last february Hospital “Sotiria” has become … synonymous with COVID-19 infection and the fight against it coronavirus. The preeminent chest disease hospital immediately entered the front line against the deadly respiratory virus by treating coronavirus patients exclusively in its clinics and Intensive Care Units (ICUs). More than 1,350 patients during all these months have fought hard, but often in vain, for their lives. A struggle that continues with unwavering intensity on the part of the patients and health professionals of the hospital and that, as everything shows, will endure.
The “TOPIC“visited the”Salvation»And he recorded the hospital routine as marked by the unprecedented pandemic but also the second wave of the coronavirus in our country, the concerns and anxieties of health professionals, the changes found between the two waves of the disease, nine months ago and now. , the psychological pressure they are under, but also their appeals to all citizens to help with their behavior to stop the circulation of the coronavirus and new infections.
The second wave of the pandemic has brought many people between the ages of 39 and 55 to the ICU in “Sotiria”, explains the chief intensivist Maria Daganou
“We are all part of a chain. We must all contribute to stopping the spread. Reduce the number of patients arriving at hospitals. Beds, individual or ICU, are not unlimited”, says the lady Maria daganou, specialist in intensive care-pulmonologist, former director of the ICU of the First University Clinic and in the last month of the recently created ICU of “Sotiria”, with capacity for 50 beds. An ICU that could be considered the … modern Greek miracle, as it was completed in two and a half months with a donation from the Greek Parliament – excavations started in early August and delivered in October. The old pines that surround the multipurpose ICU They refer to the long history of the hospital, its constitution in the last century as a sanatorium in the fight against tuberculosis, giving rise to optimism that it can still play an active role in the fight against coronavirus. In the ICU, however, the atmosphere is heavy. Last Thursday that the “TOPICIt was found in “Sotiria” 31 patients were hospitalized, the vast majority of them intubated, in the new ICU and another 29 in the other units. The versatile ICU is impressive, especially when compared to older, even refurbished units. The hum that dominates your heart, where patients are treated, sounds comforting to those who know how the ICU works. Any sound that is suddenly amplified by the machines is a warning, it mobilizes the personnel. The low-pitched sound of machines that support vital patient functions obscures the speeches of caregivers in small groups, usually consisting of an experienced health professional and two or three young assistants-in-training.
Birthday in ICU
The entrance to the ICU – which was scored as indicated in the protocol, with full coverage – reserves a strong moment. The “return” of a 42-year-old patient, his first steps after a long intubation and his successful intubation 24 hours before the “TOPIC»Visit the ICU. The infection COVID-19 it has caused myopathy that is considered reversible. His age and state of health – he had no illness – allow great optimism. With the help of the physical therapist and the nurses, you first sit up in bed, regain your strength, and lower your legs. “He has jumped”says the staff. Maybe in the afternoon he manages to get up for a minute or two. Your respiratory and motor function will return after days. Physiotherapists at the hospital will be by your side when you are discharged from the ICU for the COVID-19 clinic. “On Wednesday he was intubated, we called his parents to listen to him, to talk with them. These moments are very strong. Although she is young and has no underlying disease, she had a serious infection. We communicate with their parents every day. As we do with all the relatives of the patients “, describes the employees. They remember the other nice event of the week. That they celebrated a patient’s birthday. “We all sing the classic birthday song to her” It’s cool to have white hair, etc. “etc.”, he was very moved. Two days later he was discharged from the clinic “, they say in “TOPIC». One of the most moving moments that the physiotherapist Dimitris Kontos remembers is that he showed a patient from the other ICU in “Sotiria” on his mobile phone photos of his grandson who was born while intubated.
The hum of the machines that dominates the ICU sounds comforting to those who know how they work. Every loud sound suddenly alerts all staff
After age 42, the group continues with another patient. It will be the first attempt at intubation, a process that takes place gradually and depends on your response. As they carefully remove the mechanical support and give it oxygen, they look at the machines and their eyes light up. “Take a breath! And another! You’re doing fine, don’t be afraid! Take a breath! Enough for now”, orient, encourage, reward the 65-year-old patient. And they continue to the next.
“Every day we have five new patients during the last days. By tomorrow I estimate that the beds of Subunit 3 will be covered”says Ms. Daganou. The patients are not elderly and / or with concomitant diseases as was the case in March and April. The second wave of the pandemic has led to the “Sotiria” ICU and many people between the ages of 39 and 55, explains the chief intensivist, creating an additional psychological burden on those who work in ICU.
“Although we work as a team, everyone carries the psychological burden and handles it themselves”says the physiotherapist, specializing in respiratory physiotherapy, D. Short. Himself, as an employee for 21 years at “SalvationHe is responsible for clinical work (“I help patients to breathe after intubation, drain secretions, move,” he says) and educational work, as well as “I must also train the new auxiliary physiotherapists.”
“Anyone leaving the clinic has understood that the coronavirus is not a joke,” says Professor of Pathology Garyfallia Poulakou
The great battle
The nurse is in a similar demanding service Giannis Karataidis and the nurse Dimitra delga. Together with them the Maria, the farming, the Irene, the Constantine and many others wear their uniforms, write their name on the front of the chest with a marker – and because not everyone knows each other and because the team does not allow immediate identification – and they say they are ready to work as a team, to listen, to learn , to take care of. . Some were transferred from other hospitals and some were selected from other hospital departments due to their experience to serve in the new ICU and at the same time train younger staff. The reasonable question why the training of the auxiliaries did not precede, or even part of it, so that it is not carried out in parallel with the full operation of the unit, does not have an unequivocal answer. Commander Socrates Mitsiadis tells us that We open and hire auxiliary personnel and train based on current needs. We staffed the units one by one while the beds were covered. The same will happen with the fourth unit that has not yet worked ”.
The “salvation” since the beginning of the pandemic has been reinforced with 369 auxiliaries. It is now reinforced with 34 permanent intensivists. An additional support plan has been developed for the ICU with another 12 beds, if required by the pandemic.
George Malathounis was in the Intensive Care Unit for twelve days and another week at the clinic. “Now I can finally breathe,” he says.
A few hundred meters from the ICU, in the building that houses the Center for Respiratory Failure (CCR) and the old ICU-MAF of the hospital, the heart of the clinics beats. COVID-19. Where patients with symptoms of infection are treated, but also those who leave the ICU, because the treatment continues and can be prolonged. On the ground floor there are the 21 COVID-19 beds of the 3rd University Clinic and the second clinic on the 1st floor. Last Thursday, 18 patients were treated in the quadruple wards. “They are mainly men, between 40 and 60 years old, and most of them have no comorbidities. This is a drastic change from what was happening in the early months of the pandemic, when our patients were mostly elderly. “Now, of the 18 patients, 3 are elderly and seem to have contracted the virus from their family environment.”, says Ms Garyfallia Poulakou, Assistant Professor of Pathology – Infectious Diseases at the 3rd University Clinic. Usually, hospitalization becomes … a family affair. “Ten days ago, the whole family was hospitalized: grandfather, grandmother and others. They all left. But it doesn’t always happen. There are also losses in this battle within families. We are shocked by the story of our patient who was admitted here with a serious infection, as well as her husband at another clinic. The woman got worse, she was admitted to the ICU, she did well and on the day of her discharge her husband lost the battle in the ICU of another hospital. It was difficult and painful for us to handle “says the infectious disease specialist.
After 6 hours in the Intensive Care Unit, the mask has left the marks of Nurse Konstantina
On the terrace overlooking the hospital wards, some patients are near the window. They can’t get out, but they can breathe deeply, as much as possible. The patient in the first ward, Mr. George Malathounis, a 55-year-old sailor from Volos, shares his experience with us: “I don’t know how I got stuck. I was working in Kimi, I had a fever, I was heavy. They took me from Kymi hospital to Chalkida, they examined me and sent me to Athens. I was in the Intensive Care Unit for 12 days. I am in the clinic for another week. Now I feel fine, I can breathe and move. It is an insidious disease. I thank the doctors. ” Ms. Poulakou adds that “whoever walks through the door with their discharge has realized that the coronavirus is not a joke. They have suffered a lot, they have lived through hard times, such as the intubation of others in the ward, they have seen what it means COVID-19 “.
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