As promised, I have no intention of doing anything more than the bare minimum when reporting about COVID19 and Vaccinations. That is my obligation and my duty to the community. It is not my professional obligation to change your mind about your own stance. If facts, research, and pleas for humanity have not done that by now, nothing will.
I do want to share a comment I received from a member of our community. From someone who has devoted their life to our community and has been recognized for such — and the problems they are facing TODAY because of COVID19. I hope this helps to explain my empathy, my passion, my persistence.
The resident — who I am choosing to not name for privacy surrounding the ongoing health issues shared the following information regarding their experience last week after needing care at Angel Medical Center due to Cancer — not COVID19.
“Brittney… just want to share a personal experience with regards to your post about 27 ICU beds available. Last Wednesday, my husband was rushed to the ER at Angel Medical. He coded while we were there. After he was revived, he went on a ventilator. He needed critical care in ICU. However, after checking all of NC and surrounding states, no ICU beds were available. They didn’t think that he would make it through the night but thankfully he did.”
She went on to tell me that the family had resources and offered to charter a private plane to get him the care he needed — just to live — but even that wasn’t an option.
“While I sat in the ER for hours sobbing I could not help but wonder if a non masker/vaxer was taking one of those beds that could have gone to my husband. We offered to have him flown via friend planes to any state with an available ICU bed. Sadly even that was not an option. Due to his critical condition, he needed to be on a medical plane. Folks need to wake up about Covid. I welcome folks to visit the ER or spend time in the ER lobby to witness what we experienced. This past Wednesday, the wait time to be seen in the ER (if you walked in) was about 4 hours. It was pitiful seeing folks in pain. Nurses and doctors were doing the best they could with the volumes that they were experiencing.”
This story hit close to home because just a few weeks prior — right at the beginning of the current COVID19 surge due to the Delta Variant — I called AMC with an emergency. I was having complications from surgery after having my gallbladder removed. I was in the most paid I had ever experienced — and that’s after having 3 kids via c section and a full hysterectomy. I called while en route to the hospital to ask if I could get in faster if I called an ambulance because I was in so much pain that it couldn’t wait. They told me that it didn’t matter how I got there because they were full and I would have to wait a while to be seen regardless. That is when we made the decision to keep driving and ended up in Sylva, where thank the Lord they got me in immediately because had they not the outcome would have likely been very bad.
I care deeply about people. It is both my best and worst quality. I am an empath through and through. I want to do everything and anything for someone in need. I am also afforded access and resources to mountains of information because of my job and I have the ever-frustrating responsibility of combing through it all in a short span of time to provide the needed details to you all. At the end of the day — the absolute only thing that matters to me is your well being. I want you to be happy and healthy and I also want my friend who needs treatment for his cancer to get the care he deserves. I have no other reason for encouraging masks and vaccines other than I want the hurt and pain in our world to stop and I believe those things CAN and DO make a difference.
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