Hospital treats crush of new COVID-19 patients



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Montana medical providers are suing the state over a law that prohibits companies from requiring vaccinations for their employees. The lawsuit comes as the state treats a record number of COVID patients in intensive care.

“We’re just… we’re at the top of our lungs right now,” said Jamiee Belsky, an emergency room doctor at the Billings Clinic, who can barely keep up with the crush of new COVID-19 patients.

The intensive care unit at the Billings Clinic is operating at 150% and the hospital has built makeshift rooms along the hallways and called in the Montana National Guard for help.

Frank Miller, 59, was hospitalized with COVID-19 and has been in the hospital for more than 17 days. The unvaccinated engineer spent more than a week on a ventilator.

Miller said he was “terribly afraid”. Add that it was “because you don’t know.” You don’t know what’s going on. After. I thought I would get out of it right away and that everything would be fine. And all of a sudden, I couldn’t move my hands. I couldn’t feed myself.

Scenes like this take place across Montana with younger and sicker patients admitted daily. The state has an average of around 109 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in intensive care per day over the past week, breaking the record seen in fall 2020.

“I think we’ve all hit breaking points at different times. You have good days, you have bad days. I have days where I have to call my college buddies and say, ‘hey man, it’s been a bad day. We lost a difficult patient last night, ”said Dr Belsky, moved. “And they’re happy to come over and say, ‘Hey, what can we do?

“I am petrified for the future. If the vaccination rate does not increase, it will get worse, ”added Dr Belsky.

Eight people died last week at the Billings Clinic from exalted symptoms of COVID-19.

Miller says he regrets not getting the vaccine and plans to do so now. But he still has a long way to go and will have to go to a drug rehab center once he gets out, to learn how to eat and walk again before he finally returns home.

Montana is one of at least eight states that prohibit certain types of warrants, from vaccine requirements to companies requiring proof of vaccination.

RELATED: Billings doctor explains differences between Delta variant and 2020 COVID-19



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