August 18, 2020
“Listening to them being at breaking point broke me,” said Higley, 92, a part-time anaesthetist. “I can hear the stress, anguish and depression in the voices of these doctors as they tried to show how traumatized and exhausted they were.”
Listening to the Pediatric Intensive podcast encouraged her to enroll in California Health Corps, a team of fitness professionals who volunteer to fill staff gaps at California fitness centers as coronavirus cases increased. You have passed the approval procedure and are now waiting and are in a position to respond if necessary.
“I didn’t have the goal of enrolling in Cal Health Corps,” Higley said. “But seeing everyone without equipment, hearing the tiredness in the voice of the Italian doctors, I simply couldn’t be on the couch. I’m terrified, but I couldn’t let him go.”
As an anaesthetist, Higley plays a key role in intubating coronavirus patients who wish to be connected to a fan. During intubation, anesthesiologists are placed on top of their patients to look at their vocal cords, so this is the “closest contact you can have with a patient,” he said.
This proximity, and the limited number of anesthesiologists in the United States, has led to fears of a shortage of non-public protective devices (PPEs). Without proper PPE, anesthesiologists are more likely to get the virus, and if too many anesthesiologists are sick, there might not be enough doctors to intubate COVID-19 patients, he said.
Coronavirus has forced many hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and turn operating rooms into extensive care beds. Some hospitals have even set up intubation to protect patients with COVID-19, and the team anaesthetist intubated patients throughout the day.
Higley said that in some hospitals in the U.S., the PPE shortages are so bad that anesthesiologists have had to tape plastic bags around their necks with an oxygen tube to breathe in order to intubate patients. The safest way to handle coronavirus patients is by using new PPE with every patient, but if there’s a shortage that’s impossible, she said.
“Would you expect someone in the army to go to war without a gun? No,” he said. “If I’m in poor health and want a respirator, I’ll take someone else’s ventilator off. And if I die, he’s a less anaesthetist who works and saves lives.
To curb the spread of the virus and reduce hospitalizations, Higley stressed the importance of dressing in a mask, staying at home and listening to fitness professionals and public fitness experts. Staying at home and dressing in a mask is for the greater good, he said, in addition to respecting road regulations.
He even began confronting his neighbors and strangers who don’t wear a mask or social estrangement by explaining the permanent damage coronavirus can cause to the center and lungs.
“My biggest concern is that other people may not do this or pay attention to us until someone they love understands it and then it’s probably too late,” he said. “In May, this virus killed more Americans than the Vietnam War.”
Higley said she looked for a doctor because it would allow him to help as many other people as possible. Although she started in the nursing program at Cal State Long Beach, she moved to biochemistry before continuing her medical studies.
While at The Beach, Higley accepted a scholarship program for minorities in biological studies. Being part of the program allowed him to get a study assignment on campus, allowing him to focus more on his study box.
“The scholarship program gave me opportunities that I didn’t even know existed and gave me the concept that I could move to medical school,” he said. “The teachers who were part of the scholarship program were there to help and inspire me.”
This press release was written through California State University in Long Beach. The reviews expressed here are those of the author.
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