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At just 41 years old, Gareth Grainger nearly lost his life to Covid-19 when he faced a series of setbacks in the ICU at Tallaght University Hospital (TUH).
r Grainger appeared in a RTÉ investigates Documentary that follows the stories of Covid-19 patients during the third wave, many viewers have considered it “heartbreaking”.
Filmed during the peak of the pandemic in January, health care staff at Dublin’s South Hospital said they saw many more people in their 40s and 50s entering the ICU than during the first wave.
Even more concerning, the staff said the ICU was full and as soon as one person was out, the bed was disinfected and another was inside.
Only three of the hospital’s 12 operating rooms were open at times in January. The other nine had been repurposed as makeshift rooms to deal with the overflow of non-Covid ICU patients.
Mr. Grainger has asthma and was admitted to the hospital. Five weeks after he, his wife and their three children tested positive for Covid, he is shown struggling to breathe.
After a serious deterioration in the Covid ward, Mr. Grainger was taken to the ICU once a bed became free.
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Five weeks after he, his wife, and their three children tested positive for Covid, Mr. Grainger is shown struggling in the documentary.
His wife, Hazel, said she “can’t even put into words” how scared she was.
“My husband texted everyone to basically say goodbye,” she said.
“We built our whole lives together since we were kids. The idea of trying to raise three kids, or even not having him by my side, was just horrendous.
“I can’t even put it into words. My whole life was gone in a matter of seconds. Even though I was prepared for it, nothing prepares you for this.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing.”
After a week of being in the ICU, Mr. Grainger was well enough to be transferred to another ward and is now in the Peamount Healthcare rehabilitation center while continuing to recover.
Speaking of being transferred to another room, he told his wife over the phone: “It will help me a lot to refocus. Forward and upward, that’s the motto. “
However, the unit at TUH is like a revolving door and once your bed is empty it fills up immediately.
Bridin Fenlon, TUH clinical nurse manager, said hopefully people will see that “this is a reality.”
“I hope people can see that this is a reality, it is not made up. It is not a conspiracy theory. It is happening.”
Health personnel said that, although they are used to caring for people who are dying and witnessing deaths, the work they have done during the pandemic “is not normal.”
In the documentary, a patient is seen receiving the last rites without relatives around him, something that one viewer called “harrowing.”
“I am crying to see a patient receive the last rites, without loved ones with them. It is a heartbreaking sight.”
Another viewer wrote on social media: “I see people I know who violate the Covid-19 guidelines every day of the week. Everyone should be forced to sit and watch this program #RTEInvestigates tonight. Absolutely heartbreaking. “
While another said: “Of all the documentaries to date on Covid, prime time investigates is the most heartbreaking. Like a wartime horror movie. “
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