Marian Regional Authorities Talk About Pfizer Vaccines, ICU Capacity, Underlying Diseases | Local News

The questions will be answered by Dr. J. Trees Ritter, Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Dignity Health Central Coast, Scott Robertson, Marian Regional Chief Medical Officer, and Candice Monge, Marian Regional Chief Nursing Officer.

Question: When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, what does the process look like to Marian healthcare professionals? How many do you receive for your first assignment?

Robertson: This is truly unprecedented in public health, trying to advocate mass vaccination efforts like we do, using new technologies as well as previously undeveloped vaccines. .. Part of the challenge is that vaccines … need to be stored under some unique storage conditions, specifically -80 degrees Celsius. Therefore, one of these ultra-freezers had to be installed at our hospital and the other at our sister hospital in Oxnard, St. John’s Community Medical Center. This allows you to safely receive the vaccine and store it in a storage location. Administered to healthcare professionals in our community. Pfizer has booked a second dose and will send it as soon as the first dose is given.

Our first batch of vaccines is not enough to cover all employees in our hospital and our clinic system, so we need to prioritize some. Some of them are clear — our inpatient unit, the critical care unit — as well as enrollees, environmentalists who come after COVID-positive patients to clean the room, respiratory therapists, physiotherapists, Description of the other type of work you have At first you may not think that they will be at risk.

We hope to be able to vaccinate all health care workers in the hospital and clinic system between the next 30 to 40 days, and certainly by the end of January.

Question: How does Marian play a role in vaccination of the general public?

Robertson: I have not received clear guidance on what our role would be if we were vaccinated to the general public. Centers for Disease Control has partnered with commercial pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS to do a lot of work in delivering this type of vaccine to people in the wider community. There are six emergency cares along the Central Coast. Therefore, part of our plan is to transport vaccines to these sites so that we can cover a wider area.

Question: The Santa Barbara County Public Health Service reported that obesity and diabetes are the most common comorbidities or underlying illnesses present in county patients admitted with COVID-19. Are you seeing this among Marian patients?

Liter: Even with the surge in patients in March who were with us throughout most of April, the type of individual in our intensive care unit was very similar to our neighbor in the next room. These were usually Hispanic gentlemen who were overweight or obese and had previously unrecognized or perceived diabetes and perceived or unrecognized hypertension.

Question: What do you say to someone who claims to be healthy enough to get COVID because they don’t seem to have an underlying illness?

Liter: One thing to be aware of when talking about comorbidities and claiming that there are so many people without comorbidities infected with COVID-19 is that many people are unaware that they have one. .. [them].. These are people in their 50s or 60s who have fled without seeing a doctor for the rest of their lives, gained significant weight … and probably suffer from diabetes and hypertension. But when you ask them, they say, “I’m perfectly healthy.” Some people have a recognized comorbidity and some have an unrecognized comorbidity.

Question: Is the Marian Regional Medical Center trying to expand the capacity of the ICU?

Monge: In March, we shared that we made more changes to create additional surge beds, so Marian did it with 48 beds. All of these plans still exist and are capable of responding to the expected surge in patients. At its peak, there were 56 COVID patients in the hospital … [including] 26-28 patients in the ICU. We don’t see patients at the same level as in summer, but that doesn’t mean we don’t.

Question: As ICU availability shrink across the state, have Marian managers considered accepting patients from other areas where hospital systems are more overwhelming?

Monge: We routinely check the capacity of the ICU to determine if we can accept patients from other communities. But our top priority is patients in our community.

Question: As Christmas is approaching, people are deciding whether to travel again. Do you have any comments or advice?

Liter: There is so much good news about vaccines and there is light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel remains very long for the majority of Americans. So we haven’t got out of this mess yet. It’s worse than ever, so people now need to double their efforts. From what we are seeing, it can get worse.

Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for length and clarity.