Thread by @deikamorrison

Big and serious.

When I agreed to *donate* months of my time - and not work otherwise - to #teamshaggy4kids it was because there were 5 ICU beds at Bustamante.

That’s not a typo. FIVE.

That clearly cannot work.

To my understanding, the only way to get more beds is to 1) expand the building or 2) move the ICU altogether. Both of those would have to be done by the state. And that’s more than money, it is management etc.

I stood in the ICU. I’ve seen it. There is no space. Zero.

And here we are two years later with no ICU expansion in the face of a disease that has apparently so far - according to the research at this time - necessitated ICU treatment for one third of those affected. One third.

I am forced to ask: if those who are determined to divert away the money raised for the ICU succeed in so doing, what is the replacement ICU plan? ICU is kinda special - if you don’t have it when you need it, that’s it. Do we now understand that these issues are not either/or?

Increasingly we are living in a time when understanding of public health, infectious and climate change driven diseases *needs* to be mandatory training for decision makers.

If we do not understand science, the consequences are dire. How else can I explain this?

It has been one of my greatest fears that something reaches here that needs lots of ICU support.

We. Do. Not. Have. It.

And even when we make a big global fuss to try to help, it turns into a drama where once again adults cannot seem to get it together.

This cannot work.