Thread by @TorontoStar, THREAD: As bad as COVID-19 was in the spring, this winter is [...]

THREAD: As bad as COVID-19 was in the spring, this winter is even worse: patients in the ICU are younger and sicker, the infection tearing through their bodies faster.

It all takes a toll — on patients and health care workers caring for them: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

“When someone says, ‘Please take care of me because I have a five-year-old at home,’ it’s that human factor that makes this so hard.”

Last July, the Star's @Megan_Ogilvie reported about the day North York General’s ICU was clear of COVID patients. It was cause to celebrate but staff feared the inevitable second wave /2 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/07/11/and-then-there-were-none-the-day-north-york-generals-icu-was-clear-of-covid-patients-was-cause-to-celebrate-but-staff-fear-a-second-wave.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=icu-in-july

“We know that COVID-free in the ICU only means at this moment; it doesn’t mean they still won’t come. We’re still prepared.”

Six months later, @Megan_Ogilvie has gone back to the health care team at North York General Hospital.

“We’re all so tired; you can see and feel the burnout,” one nurse told her. /3 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

“You don’t forget the terror in your patients’ eyes, the words they’ve spoken to you, the words they’ve spoken to their family before you put them on life support ... The repetitiveness of that gets to you. And it feels like there is no end in sight.” /4 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

Staff in intensive care units across Greater Toronto have been working flat out for months, keeping up the gruelling pace of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients with few signs of a slowdown on the horizon. /5 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

“When someone says, ‘Please take care of me because I have a five-year-old at home,’ it’s that human factor that makes this so hard.”

Since the start of the pandemic, 1,034 severely ill patients with COVID-19 have died in ICUs, with 618 of those deaths coming after Sept. 1, according to the most recent weekly report from Critical Care Services Ontario. /7 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

Critical care physician Dr. Anna Geagea said COVID-19 patients in the ICU can take twice as much attention as a typical critical care patient. "It's physically tiring; the weeks on my shift feel like a constant workout." /8 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/01/31/we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=we-are-also-human-north-york-generals-icu-staff-struggling-as-they-treat-younger-covid-19-patients-amid-their-own-emotional-exhaustion

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