fbpx

This is How Things Collapse. Silently.

Preston Alexander, a healthcare entrepreneur, writes about stand today in full, but terrifyingly empty, hospitals; full of patients in need, empty from the staff required to take care of them.

Sobering views in healthcare

Over the past 3 weeks or so we have hunkered down in a similar fashion to the early days of the pandemic and when Delta began to emerge.

But something is different this time.

While concerned, life seems to go on, but with a certain cloud overhead. One more worrisome than before.

 

It’s not that I can’t go to a restaurant or see many of our friends or even family members.

It’s not even really staying home most of the time, though with two young kids, I do wish we could get out more.

It’s what’s on the horizon that slowly plods forward to disaster.

Not loudly careening like an out of control freight train.

But steadily lurching forward.

 

When we talk about collapse, we always assume some event, then panic, and rubble.

A battle. A war. An attack.

It is fast and violent and terrifying.

 

What we face today is not that, it’s eerie in its silence.

Frightening and unsettling as a ghost town.

You may be able to picture it as if some post-apocalyptic scene. Strangely quite.

No one is there, but someone should be there.

 

It is fast and violent and terrifying.

 

Here we stand today in full, but terrifyingly empty hospitals.

Full of patients in need, empty from the staff required to take care of them.

It has been two years.

The parades have gone.

The pizza is not working.

Free lunches are no longer sent.

No more donations.

Just a workforce risking their own health to treat more patients than they are able.

 

This goes beyond nurses and doctors who are leaving medicine at a record pace.

There is no one to take patients to surgery.

No one to clean.

No one to run labs.

To answer the phone.

To admit you.

 

This goes beyond nurses and doctors who are leaving medicine at a record pace. There is no one to take patients to surgery. No one to clean. No one to run labs. Click To Tweet

 

We have come to this slowly over decades.

It’s become faster over the last two years. We are at the edge of something truly horrifying.

A moment when you call the ambulance and no one comes.

When you arrive at the hospital and no one is there.

When you scream for help and are met with a deafening silence.

This is how things collapse. Silently.

 

We have taken too much for granted in healthcare.

The people who make it work.

Not the people billing and administering and shouting and focused on the bottom line at all cost.

This is the cost.

 

 

We have taken too much for granted in healthcare. The people who make it work. Click To Tweet

 

There is no healthcare without nurses.

None without doctors.

None without labs and ambulances and first responders and EVS teams and office staff.

 

There is no healthcare without nurses. None without doctors. None without labs and ambulances and first responders and EVS teams and office staff. Click To Tweet

 

I was with my grandmother at the hospital two days ago.

Hours in the ER. People waiting and waiting and waiting.

No beds.

When she was admitted, I walked to her room through empty halls. Quiet halls.

There was no one there when her IV alarm went off for hours.

No one to take her next door for a procedure.

We have been approaching this moment for a long time.

We are here.

Will we be able to meet it?

Share

Tweet this:

Earn CME credit:

This learning experience is powered by CMEfy - a platform that brings relevant CMEs to busy clinicians, at the right place and right time. Using short learning nudges, clinicians can reflect and unlock AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get updates and learn from the best

Uncovering Culinary Secrets

13 culinary medicine articles, released weekly. Written by a certified internal medicine physician, board-certified in culinary medicine & obesity medicine, whose focus is on prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Susan J. Baumgaertel, MD FACP

Navigating Your Health (with Dr. Susan Baumgaertel)

Dr. Baumgaertel draws upon her 30 years of experience as a physician in primary care internal medicine, and uses her personal story-telling style to communicate with you as if you are sitting right across from her. Pull up a chair and enjoy.

Hope Seidel, MD

Hope Seidel, MD

Our children are an invitation to our growth, and their health depends on our willingness to heal ourselves.

Richa Mittal, MD

Richa Mittal MD

“I share tools to help people live a life in balance in order to have a life well-lived.”

Support A Platform that Celebrates Real Doctors

For just $10 a month, you can help keep this openly accessible site available to all & help us sposnor in more doctors.

logo

BRANDING? Oh yes!

Drop your email to get our 5 Tips for Branding as a Professional

I acknowledge that this site is not to be used for medical advice.

Play Video
Our Founder Answers Your BURNING Question

SoMeDocs

“Why should I become a member of SoMeDocs if I already have my own space online?”