Page 27 - bon-dia-aruba-20200404

A27
WORLD NEWS Saturday 4 april 2020

The daily terrors:

Improvising in a makeshift ICU in Spain

By RENATA BRITO
Associated Press
BADALONA, Spain (AP) —
The tension is palpable.
There is no non-essential
talking. An orchestra of
medical monitors marks
the tempo with an endless
series of soft, distinct beeps.
Never have so many peo- Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock and NHS staff
ple been inside the library stand on marks on the ground, put in place to ensure
of the Germans Trias i Pu- social distancing guidelines are adhered to, ahead of the
jol hospital in northeastern opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre
in London, Friday April 3, 2020. The ExCel centre which has
Spain. But the health care been converted into a 4000 bed temporary hospital NHS
workers in improvised pro- Nightingale amid the growing coronavirus outbreak.
tective gear aren’t consult- (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)
ing medical books. Instead,
they’re treating patients in Healthcare workers assist a COVID-19 patient at a library Prince Charles opens new
critical condition suffering that was turned into an intensive care unit (ICU) at Germans London hospital for virus
from pneumonia caused Trias i Pujol hospital in Badalona, Barcelona province, Spain,
Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or
by the coronavirus. moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially patients
From the outside, this make- older adults and people with existing health problems, it can
shift intensive-care unit in cause more severe illness or death. LONDON (AP) — Prince 4,000 beds, it will be the
Badalona, near Barcelona, (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) Charles remotely opened biggest hospital facility
looks nothing like a library. journalists enters the room visit them. a vast temporary hospi- in the U.K.. Charles, 71,
The bookshelves have to document the work, Nurses on the other side tal for COVID-19 patients paid tribute to everyone,
been removed to make but their presence is barely of the glass observe their at London’s main exhibi- including military person-
room for up to 20 hospital noticed. Health workers re- movements, typing away tion center Friday, as the nel, involved in its "spec-
beds, breathing machines main focused on their es- on computers. Communi- number of coronavirus- tacular and almost unbe-
and an array of medical sential tasks -- monitoring cating on walkie-talkies, related deaths reported lievable” construction.
equipment after the long- vitals, administering medi- those inside give them in the U.K. surpassed Chi- “An example, if ever one
standing ICU and other ar- cation, manipulating the the latest developments: na’s official total. was needed, of how
eas of the hospital flooded tubes and cords connect- “37.8C.” One of the pa- While confirmed virus the impossible could be
with COVID-19 patients. ing the patients to a pleth- tients has a fever again. cases and deaths contin- made possible and how
With the scarcity of full- ora of machines. Medication is then injected ued to rise steeply, British we can achieve the un-
body protective suits across Most patients are intubat- into the IV bag. Prime Minister Boris John- thinkable through hu-
Spain, doctors and nurses ed and hooked up to ven- Time floats, and not just son said he remained in man will and ingenuity,"
are employing what they tilators. About half have because the nurses are un- isolation with a fever eight he said from his home in
can find, reusing masks, been flipped onto their able to see their watches days after testing positive Scotland, Birkhall.
layering oversized surgical stomachs to ease pressure from behind their foggy for the new virus. The new National Health
gowns with plastic aprons on their lungs and help goggles. Charles, who on Monday Service hospital will only
and running through an their breathing. Nurses ac- As one person’s shift ends, completed a week of care for people with CO-
infinite number of latex knowledge that this is not a the laborious process of self-isolating as he recov- VID-19, and patients will
gloves. hopeful sign. leaving the ICU begins. ered from COVID-19, said only be assigned there
Like scuba divers, they As Spain sees the rate of Nurses exit via a designat- via video link that he was after their local London
apply a small dose of de- infections slowly stabilize, it ed door and remove their “enormously touched” hospital reaches its ca-
tergent to their goggles continues logging a daily now-contaminated armor, to be asked to open the pacity.
just before stepping into record number of deaths one piece at a time. Gog- new Nightingale Hospi- Charles described himself
the sweltering, virus-laden – Thursday set a record, gles go into one bucket, tal, which was built in just as one of “the lucky ones”
room in the hopes of miti- with 950 deaths in 24 hours. gowns in another. The outer nine days at the vast Ex- with only mild symptoms
gating the inevitable fog- More than 10,000 people layer of gloves and aprons Cel conference center but noted “for some it will
ging of their eye protec- have died in Spain thus far. are thrown into the trash. in east London, with cor- be a much harder jour-
tion caused by their own The patients in this alter- A weight is lifted off their ridors stretching a full ki- ney.”
breathing. nate ICU will likely spend shoulders as they leave the lometer (just over half a He expressed his hope
They’ll be at it for hours, weeks in the hospital be- ICU behind. But another mile). that the hospital “is need-
racing from patient to pa- fore their battle with the vi- weight takes its place in the It opens with around 500 ed for as short a time
tient, sweating under all rus is won or lost. They fight form of a haunting ques- beds but when at its ex- and for as few people as
the layers. for life without their loved tion: Will the virus follow pected full capacity of possible.”q
A team of Associated Press ones, who are unable to them home?q