In early March, doctors at St. John’s hospital in Far Rockaway identified the first Covid-19 patient in Queens. Now, there is an uneasy lull and the staff fears a second wave will come.
In early March, doctors at St. John’s hospital in Far Rockaway identified the first Covid-19 patient in Queens. Now, there is an uneasy lull and the staff fears a second wave will come.
new video loaded:‘Lord Have Mercy’: Inside One of New York’s Deadliest ZIP Codes
transcript
‘Lord Have Mercy’: Inside One of New York’s Deadliest ZIP Codes
In early March, doctors at St. John’s hospital in Far Rockaway identified the first Covid-19 patient in Queens. Now, there is an uneasy lull and the staff fears a second wave will come.
“One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Got to roll — Roll him. Before, you didn’t really have time to think about it. You just had to get it done. Now you get time to sit back and look at what you’ve been doing, and start processing your feelings. That could be one of my family members. That could be me.” “Tower Five, Donyale. St. John’s is the only hospital on the peninsula. It’s a lot of people that I’ve known my whole life. My first night 10 people died, right in front of me. And it was just — yeah, that was a lot.” “I’m the director of the Emergency Department. I’m the first line of defense. How are you? My name is Dr. Lee, OK? Nobody’s ever trained for this type of scenario or the stuff that we saw this past month. All right, that should make you feel comfortable. I don’t think it’s going to hit me for a while.” “I think there’s a feeling, like can we take a breath? Can we back up? Take that moment, but still keep your hand on the gas.” “Is my stethoscope over there? It’s night and day. The volume has been drastically down. However, I’m still concerned. It’s calm. Nothing’s going on. But that’s part of the E.D. — you don’t know what’s coming through that door. I’m sure this is a great look with a goggle on top, you know what I mean? Maybe I spoke too soon. They’re coming in. Here you go. Patient with shortness of breath and fever. That looks like from a nursing home. How are you doing? My name’s Dr. Lee.” “He’s going to go to 53.” “People need to understand the gravity. Can you call respiratory for me, please? I’m intubating somebody in 53. In a peak, we had close to 60 patients intubated. We are surrounded by nursing homes. In that sense, we got hit pretty hard. I was never in a battle or any other armed type of deal, but that’s what it felt like when we are triaging the patients a certain way. Give me a four mat — is respiratory coming? And this was the first time in my lifetime that I actually went through that.” “There you go.” “Raise the bed. Two more. All right, ready? Let go.” “There’s got to be one in the bag, in the box.” “So we pulled the stylet out, balloon 22 at the lip. The chance they’re coming off the ventilator is very, very low. Good collar change. And I’ve got to protect their airway. And afterwards, we deal with what comes next.” “I feel like it wiped out a generation, like that generation that was hanging on with a lot of comorbidities. I just feel like it just came in and just —” “The day we maxed out, I think we were 112 patients in here. So outside the ambulance door, the stretchers went down the ramp to the bottom of the entrance where they drive in. And we literally, we just go out there and look and see, OK, who to pull off the list first? Because we knew — how many people can we intubate?” “I called two families, back to back, I went home two days crying in a row. And I held the phone, and they got to say goodbye to their loved one — terrible.” “What else do you do? I mean, you hate to say it. But we’re not God. But are you going to revive the 95 year old or the 42 year old?” “I’ll never be prepared. I don’t think you’re ever prepared for that.” “You know what the saddest thing was? You get someone in alert, talking to you from her house — I remember 72-year-old lady, Polish lady, very nice, couldn’t breathe. Oxygenation was awful. She broke her bridge because she was breathing so hard. And she was so upset about this piece of broken tooth. She said, ‘You have to wrap it. I can’t afford to fix it when I get home.’ I knew, as I was wrapping that tooth, you’re not going home. You’re going to be dead by tomorrow. And I said, ‘OK,’ and I’m wrapping it in a plastic bag, and sticking it in behind her insurance card. ‘Oh, thank you. God bless you. Thank you for fixing my — saving my tooth so I can fix it when I go home.’ She was dead the next day I came back in.” “Yeah.” “The poor families. It must be awful. It has to be, just to not be with them.” “I’ll be right back.” “I’m sorry. The thing that hit me was when my dad got infected. He’s a healthy working man. He owns his deli. I wouldn’t say never gets sick, but he rarely gets sick. Then I got a phone call from my mother saying that my dad didn’t look good. I thought maybe, maybe we just caught it in time. But he was intubated, put on a ventilator. He’s been on it for the past four weeks. I don’t think he’s going to make it. And we have — might as well just say it here — we have to figure out we’re going to do.” “I feel a responsibility to this place, this community. We’re safety net hospital. Said there’s nine in there. Working in the morgue right now, I’m still trying to figure out why God placed me here at this moment. Once I go outside, I’m in a zone with it. It’s set up like an airplane. You looking for somebody there in Section 5, Row D. You couldn’t have told me that we’d have did that a month and a half ago.” My son’s grandfather’s best friend, man. Jesus. One, two, three — stop. One, two, three — all the way. It’s more emotional for me now than it was two months ago. It’s starting to tap into my pain. We got this thing, we man up and get it done. We don’t go to somebody and say, ‘I’m hurting.’ And if we’re going to recover from this correctly, we’re going to have to do that.” “That’s what I don’t know is, how we’re going to move forward. Any update?” “No.” “I was born here in this hospital. My dad was born in this hospital, and all my siblings. In the beginning, I was leaving and crying every day. But thank God, it’s changing. It seems like it’s changing. Mr. Style?” “Yes.” “How are you this evening?” “I feel good.” “You feel good? I’m going to feed you, OK?” “Yes.” “We’re going to start with the soup because I know you like your soups.” “Yes.” “Right? How is that?” “Wonderful.” “I’m going to miss you when you leave me today. You know that? Reach your hand straight, and there’s your teacup.” “OK.” “All right. Put the straw to your mouth. Here’s the straw. OK, close your mouth. Go ahead. Drink. Dealing with Covid, people are scared when they find out that they have that. You don’t want to be the person that’s just running in the room and running back out. What’s most exciting about going home? What are you excited about?” “Oh, sometimes here, I’m just lonely by myself. And when I’m at home, my grandson is with me. I’m comfortable at home. I cannot see, but I can find my way around the house by touching furniture.” “Hey, this is St. John’s calling. Your dad is ready to go now. Somebody’s going home.” “Thank you for everything, OK?” “Yeah. It was a pleasure. I’m excited for you. You’re going home.” “Yeah. Thank you!” “Yes. Thank you.” “All right, thank you.” “I feel like we’ve seen the worst of it. I’m hoping that the numbers don’t go back up. But the reality is that they could. Just dealing with the unknown right now.” “Can we call respiratory? CPAP? It’s time to think, and it is time to work. What’s her SAT? That’s been taught by my dad, my mom. Just in case, set the intubation stuff set up, all right? I hope I’m wrong, but I still think the second wave is coming. I hope I’m wrong.” “You ever hear the saying, men cry in the dark? I’ve cried one time since this happened, and I’ve carried 100 — it’s got to be 150 people out of here. One, two, three. Big, small, men, women, people I know, grew up with them, grew up with their children. One, two, three. I would do everything in my being to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”
‘Lord Have Mercy’: Inside One of New York’s Deadliest ZIP Codes
In early March, doctors at St. John’s hospital in Far Rockaway identified the first Covid-19 patient in Queens. Now, there is an uneasy lull and the staff fears a second wave will come.
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