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The first thing that strikes me is the age of the patients filling the critical care beds.
The faces of COVID-19 the victims etched into our collective conscience are mostly elderly. Not exclusively, but overwhelmingly. But as I walk through the intensive care unit at Warrington Hospital, I see that many of these patients are not elderly.
There is a young Asian man who has trouble breathing. It seems that he is somewhat uncomfortable. His chest rises and falls in an exaggerated way. His face is contorted like he’s in some pain. I have been told that he is only 28 years old and that he is too ill to speak to me.
In the opposite bed is a woman who appears to be between 30 and 40 years old. She is a principal at a local school and is sitting upright and breathing without assistance. We greet each other.
She smiles and so do I, but she can’t see my face because of all the PPE I’m wearing, including a mask and full-screen visor. The nurse overseeing my visit tells me that this woman is a cancer patient and has COVID-19, two life-threatening illnesses at the same time.
Mark Anderson Hammersley’s pre-existing conditions make him particularly vulnerable
The first person I speak to is Mark Anderson Hammersley. He tells me that he is 57 years old and the father of two young children. Mark is breathing with the help of a CPAP machine. His voice is hoarse, a little breathless, and barely audible from the constant beeping of all the life-saving diagnostic machines in the room.
“I have diabetes and I’m overweight, so those are my risk factors. To be honest, it’s still early,” he says. His underlying health problems meant that Mark had to protect himself for most of the year. It worked and kept you from getting sick.
But a move, Mark thinks, exposed him to the potentially deadly virus. Not just Mark, but also his wife. He tells me that he is very worried about her even though she is still at home. I ask Mark if he is concerned about his own health, about the possible outcome.
“I’m worried, yes,” he replies. “But I feel safe if that makes sense.”
Mark is right to feel more secure. There are more treatments available, medications that can change the outcome in favor of the patient. We know more about the virus and how it behaves.
In the bed next to Mark’s is Grandma Susan Bostock. And like Mark, Susan is also breathing using her CPAP machine. Without him, Susan tells me, I would be dead.
“I did everything they told me. Social distancing and the rest, but I don’t think people should take it lightly,” says Susan. He taps his fingers on the mouthpiece he is wearing,
“I know how far I can breathe right now. And I know I can’t survive without this.”
Susan Bostock says she’s getting the best possible care
Like Mark, Susan has full confidence in the medical team that cares for her. She says she feels “calm” and is “receiving the best care and medication.”
The relentless rise in infections in the Northwest has led to an increase in hospital admissions. The intensive care unit at Warrington Hospital is almost full. Only two empty beds remain. Additional capacity will be needed soon.
Warrington continues with elective treatments at his secure COVID site. But if infections and admissions continue to rise as they are now, our health service will have to make very difficult decisions again.
The ICU only has two free beds
Dr. Alex Crowe, Medical Director, Warrington and Halton Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, praises his team. He describes his doctors and nurses as “tenacious” and “resilient,” two characteristics that they will have to possess in abundance if they are to overcome the coming crisis.
There were no deaths from COVID-19 at this hospital between July and August this year. But in the last week alone there have been eight.
Dr. Crowe says it feels like “we’re back a lot to where we were earlier this year.
“I think we are much more prepared than we were, so we understand the needs and interventions that are required for patients with COVID.
“I think the challenges lie in our operational demands as we move forward in the days and weeks ahead.”
