Act now to keep our children safe and healthy

Due to the extraordinary impacts of COVID-19, just like our colleagues across the region and country, OHSU and OHSU Doernbecher hospitals are currently unable to provide the necessary and life-saving care to all Oregonians in need.

Our hospitals are full of patients of all ages. While some are sick with COVID, others have various other conditions. Many of them have delayed preventive and necessary medical care during the pandemic. As a result, they are sicker and require more hospital resources, many of which are already depleted by the impacts of the past 18 months.

We do everything we can to ensure the health and well-being of those who come to our hospitals. However, amid the huge spike in coronavirus cases, the reality is that patients wait hours, sometimes days, in our emergency department before a hospital bed is available; medical care is administered in waiting rooms, conference rooms and corridors; and sometimes seriously ill adult patients are cared for in our pediatric wards.

We simply do not have enough space, staff or resources to provide care to those in need. This includes our most vulnerable and precious population: children.

If Oregonians Don’t Take Immediate Action To Reverse Rise In COVID-19cases in our state, the consequences will be even more catastrophic than they already are.

The next few weeks will be some of the most difficult we have had in providing the necessary medical care to critically ill people facing cancer, heart disease and even fractures. As we approach the back to school and in-person sports this fall, as well as the start of our standard cold and flu season, it’s crucial that Oregonians take action now.

For the safety of our friends and neighbors, as well as our children – the majority of whom are not yet able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine – we ask you:

• Make do not delay your regular check-ups or those of your child, or annual vaccinations. Preventive care is the key to overall well-being.
• Get vaccinated against COVID if you are able and eligible. Vaccines are the best thing a person can do to prevent serious illness for themselves and others, especially those who cannot get vaccinated.
• When interacting with others, vaccinated or not, all Oregonians should follow at least two of these three precautions: wear a mask when indoors in a public space, with people outside your home or outside where physical distancing is not possible; meet other people outside, where transmission is less likely; and physical distance where possible.

We and our colleagues are here and will continue to provide the best possible care to all Oregonians, despite our exhaustion. However, we are very concerned and need your help.

We have a shared responsibility to protect each other, especially children – whether they are our own or those of our neighbors.

Please immunize, mask yourself and your children, and let’s get through it together.

Dana Braner, MD, FAAP, FCCM is the President of Credit Unions for Kids and Professor of Pediatrics (Critical Care), OHSU School of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital; Matthias Merkel, MD, Ph.D., is Senior Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Capacity Management and Patient Flow, and Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at OHSU School of Medicine.

This view was originally published on August 25, 2021 by Oregonain.