Thread by @StLukesAnita

New thread just for Southwest District Health's Board meeting. @StLukesHealth was asked to come speak to the board and will around 9:55a:

OMG... "This is a scam!" People are shouting at SWDH Board meeting.

People are thanking the board for bringing in the "other side" and speakers with different views on #COVID19 because they're only hearing "one-sided" information from health care organizations. This is where we are folks. SCIENCE and evidence-based data is "one-sided"

This speaker wants someone to take him to the hospitals... I do. I am. I'm sharing videos and interviews from inside @StLukesHealth often. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. WATCH THEM. This is not a hoax, and I'm showing you the people who are on the frontlines, not online all day on Parler.

I'd sure love to see that same enthusiastic clapping for our #Healthcareheroes who are exhausted from caring for people who didn't take #COVID19 seriously, or were unfortunately exposed because someone else didn't.

There's a reason @StLukesHealth EXPERTS won't be addressing the SWHD Board meeting in person: The room is full of people who are not physically distancing and not wearing masks. Our hospital in Nampa had 18 COVID19 patients and Meridian had 30 at midnight. It's likely higher now.

For my mental health, I'm not sure I can watch the next 20min of this meeting. It's really upsetting. I spent time w/ these @StLukesHealth ICU hero nurses in Meridian last week & saw a lot of sick people. I don't forget what I've seen, they don't forget the patients they've lost.

Our @StLukesHealth EXPERTS, Dr. Sky Blue and Dr. Michaela Schulte will speak to the SWDH board this morning, as well. The meeting is obviously running late. They were slated for 9:55am.

Dr. Sky Blue is testifying now. He's likely THE MOST EXPERIENCED AND EDUCATED PERSON IN IDAHO ON COVID19: “I find myself with an increasing sense of desperation and helplessness in this crisis.”

Dr. Sky Blue: “Right now, our behavior is the only thing we have to change our trajectory.” #IDCOVID19

"Use your common sense…" quote of the day for COVID19 from Dr. Sky Blue.

"Our capacity of care is very seriously eroding, and we are getting close to a breaking point where we will no longer able to provide the level of care we are used to, for anyone presenting to the hospital, regardless of their diagnosis.' -Dr. Michaela Schulte, @StLukesHealth

"Our hospitals are not staffed to run at 100% of their physical capacity (meaning every room and bed filled) over prolonged periods of time. Not even hotels or other services industries, where workflows include specific check-out and agreed upon arrival times function that way."

"Hospital staff lives in the communities we serve and is acquiring the virus there, limiting availability to work and further eroding our capacity for care." @StLukesHealth's Dr. Schulte.

"Impact also trickles down & is felt particularly strong in our rural hospitals who rely on transferring sicker patients to a higher level of care, irrespective of COVID status. However, those patients can’t be moved until a bed becomes available, leading to very long wait times"

THIS! "Why do we even allow the implication to be made that somehow the number of years someone has lived or heath conditions they had to face make his/her life less valuable? Make them somehow matter less in the statistics?" -Dr. Schulte. @StLukesHealth

"The outcome of COVID is not binary – you either fully recover or you die. What does not get much talked about & is much more difficult to measure is the large number of patients who experience persistent negative effects on their health for weeks & months after they recover."

"Let me remind those that doubt us that we are still the same people, with the same professionalism who have been caring for this community for decades. And by the grace of God we will still be here to care for patients long after this pandemic abates."...

"All we are asking for is to be recognized as the professionals that we are, to have our experiences and perspectives be heard, and to be treated with the same respect we demonstrate to those who seek our care." -Dr. Schulte, @StLukesHealth