This story is part of a collaboration between Central Connecticut State University and University of Central Lancashire.
Eric Thepsiri, a paramedic who has been working in New York to assist the state at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, says Manhattan hospitals are like a “scene out of a movie.”
“What I’ve seen in Manhattan and these inner-city hospitals is nothing that I’ve ever seen before as a provider,” said Thepsiri, a nationally registered paramedic who normally works in Hartford, Connecticut.
“You’d have vented patients next to vented patients and they’d have bags over their heads, secretions all over the floor,” Thepsiri said.
Across the ocean, Ella Holding, a registered nurse of 11 years in the United Kingdom, has also experienced firsthand the effects of the pandemic.
“We have all cried on one another. It is very difficult,” Holding said. “Some of the nurses have even moved out of their own homes away from their families to protect them.”
According to the World Health Organization, as of May 13, the United States has seen a total of 1,322,054 COVID-19 confirmed cases and 79,634 total deaths.
The United Kingdom also faces grim statistics with 223,064 total confirmed cases and 32,065 total deaths.
Frontline medics around the world have been at the heart of combatting the coronavirus pandemic, though the conditions they face are largely shaped by the healthcare systems in their respective countries.
While almost all healthcare systems are a mixture of public and private, it’s the ratio that varies among countries.
According to BBC News, in the U.K. the public health system can be accessed by all permanent residents, it’s almost entirely paid for through taxation and it’s mostly free at the point of use.
But in the U.S., Americans are more likely to rely on private insurance to fund their healthcare due to the access to public healthcare being dependent on income.
In the Global Health Security Index findings for 2019, the U.K. received an exceptionally high score of 91.9 for rapid response to and mitigation of the spread of an epidemic. While the U.S. ranked second to the U.K., they had a significantly lower score of 79.7 out of 195 countries.
In terms of treating the sick and protecting healthcare workers, the U.S earned the top rank with a score of 73.8, while the U.K. was ranked eleventh with a score of 59.8.
Though the U.S. has seen the highest total number of coronavirus deaths, according to Statista, an online portal for statistics, the U.K. has seen more deaths relative to their population with 491.69 per million compared to the U.S.’ 251.43 per million.
“I think in the weeks to come we will see a surge in very unwell patients, which for me personally, is very scary,” Holding said.
With the increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitals around the world have seen an increase in patients requiring hospitalization.
“These providers, these nurses, these doctors, the staff in these hospitals, they’re just running themselves ragged because they’re short-staffed,” Thepsiri said. “Their own colleagues are falling ill and they’re expected to care for, not only these patients, but their own colleagues, and it’s definitely difficult.”
Holding, who mainly works in the accident and emergency department (A&E) of the University Hospital of Morecambe Bay Trust, does not feel properly protected while at work.
“When we have direct contact with a patient, we wear the surgical facemask, a white apron, face shield and short blue gloves. Our arms are still exposed,” Holding said. “I feel this is not appropriate for dealing with patients who have potentially got the virus or who have tested positive for the virus.”
But Kara Aparo, a registered nurse since 1997, who now works with Bristol Health Homecare out of Connecticut, feels much more satisfied with her protection on the job. Though unlike a traditional nurse, she does not work in a hospital but rather in individual’s homes.
since 1997. Photo courtesy of Kara Aparo
“I feel my organization has done an amazing job providing us with cloth masks, surgical masks and N95 masks, as well as goggles and gowns,” Aparo said. “We have obtained numerous, generous donations from our community as well.”
But there is no denying the worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment for medical personnel.
“The World Health Organization has warned that severe and mounting disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment (PPE)- caused by rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse- is putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases,” according to its website.
Due to this shortage, many nurses have had to go against what they were previously taught in school.
Crystall Coe, a full-time ICU nurse at UConn Health, speaks from experience about the dangers of not following how they were trained to perform their job.
“We are at the point where we are using one N95 mask a day and wearing a surgical mask to keep it clean, then only the surgical mask after leaving the unit,” Coe said. “Once you reuse something like that you are at higher risk of contaminating yourself or others around you.”
While the health of all individuals has been the top priority throughout the pandemic, the health of medical personnel has been crucial.
“If we don’t protect ourselves and we catch the virus there will be no one to look after patients,” Holding said.
Holding knows 14 staff members within her hospital in the U.K. that have tested positive for the virus.
“Nine of them work on A&E. One of the staff members is currently in ICU. This is so sad and it terrifies me,” Holding said. “All these staff members range from 26-50+. It really doesn’t matter what age you are and whether or not you have underlying health conditions. All these staff members are fit and healthy normally.”
A population-based surveillance system, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)- Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), collects data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 associated hospitalizations among children and adults.
COVID-NET found that in Connecticut alone, during the week of April 19, a little under 2,500 patients were hospitalized due to the illness, about 887 of which were individuals who were 85 or older.
See Also: Grocery Workers in the US and the UK on the Frontlines During COVID-19 (AUDIO)
Across the globe, frontline medics have adjusted the way they perform their jobs in an effort to keep as many people safe as possible.
“It’s a new set of rules where we don’t want to be exposed either, so we’re just having everyone meet us outside,” Holzhauer said.
Andrew Holzhauer has been a paramedic firefighter in the Central Connecticut area for about seven years as well as a part-time paramedic at American Medical Response (AMR) for 10 years.
“For a while we were running low on hand sanitizer and gowns and stuff, but we rationed and limited the number of people actually going into the house so we could get away with using only one gown per call as opposed to a traditional response where everyone goes into the house,” Holzhauer said. “We would burn through PPE way faster.”
Medics remain on the frontlines throughout the challenging conditions and uncertainties of the pandemic.
“I’m a nurse, 22 years ago I committed myself to help others and care for others,” Aparo said. “This isn’t a job to me and my colleagues, it’s our calling, what we are meant to do. Our community needs us.”
Chloe Flint from the University of Central Lancashire contributed interviews.