A short tread on community.
You might know that I am a champion of @coffee_outside. It was a simple idea that brought people together every Friday morning in a local park. Most arrived by bicycles and some even drank tea but that wasn’t it was all about.
It was really about being connected with people who were once strangers. It helped that we were like minded souls, but given time and commitment it flourished just as those relationships did.
Like other things in this crazy time, it has dwindled. Despite being outside by nature our group has gotten smaller. Like a seed that drys.
It’s a garden that I have neglected as of late too, I have become far too busy. But hear is the thing, even with the current restrictions I will do every thing I can to be there in a safe way.
Because I know the toll that this pandemic takes on people mentally. I also know that those at @coffee_outside are the perfect mentors for people who need to connect.
I will no longer announce the gatherings every Friday, but if you are about and want to chat, I will still be there as much and my schedule permits. And if there are 10 of us already there, I will happily give my spot to you.
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This is not where we are now, but given the ICU admission rates and EXPONENTIAL growth rate of cases, coupled with our inability to contact trace in a timely matter, this is where we are heading. Unless something is done.
If you are reading this thread, you are probably mostly in agreement with the problem. The challenge is to depoliticize this issue. We were all together on this in March, and as a result the first wave was brought under control. Our eastern provinces still have control.
Some uncomfortable truths about ageism and #COVIDー19. The average life expectancy of someone who lives to 80 is 9 years, they however are most likely to die if infected, and should they get sick enough to need ICU support their mortality pushes 80%
Consequently, they rarely are admitted to ICU. This means: 1. ICU occupancy lags hospital admission rates significantly and is an insensitive metric for healthcare capacity and strain. 2. These are preventable deaths that take significant number of quality years with them.
The bad news is that it is a statistical game. As hospital numbers increase, so will the proportion of people with favourable ICU outcomes who need our care. That’s when we start filling our beds. When those people get sick they take weeks of treatment.
I apologize to everyone I could not individually reply to. So a brief thread about ICU capacity, as it pertains to Edmonton in the time of #COVID19.
Edmonton’s General ICU beds are spread out amongst all of its hospitals. We have two major trauma centres situated at the University Hospital and Royal Alexandra Hospital. The Sturgeon, Grey Nuns and Misericordia handle both surgical and medical disease.
The university also has the Mazinkowski which manages heart surgery and ECMO, and a neurosurgical ICU. The RAH has multiple step down units, both surgical and medical that can act provide high level care.
So here I go into turbulent waters. I do so because I have had several requests to weigh in on the matter of #Masks. I would like to qualify my statements first. I am not an infectious disease specialist. I would refer you to @AntibioticDoc for a higher level of expertise.
I do believe that non medical masks play an integral part in the mitigation and management of the spread of #COVID19. I use the word believe specifically because despite the recent proliferation of studies around masking, they are mostly of poor quality and applicability.
If you follow me you know that I despise oversimplifications. My concerns about masks from the very beginning has been the need to portray it as a solution to the pandemic, as way to get kids back in school, and people back to work. In a sense, a magic bullet.
Allow me a brief thread that will first cause you some anxiety but then reassure you. I will preface this with my credentials. I have been an intensive care physician for 15 years now. Long enough have gained a fair amount of experience in these matters.
It is inherent in our nature to look for answers. It is also natural for us to seek the easiest way to accomplish a task. I’m not an evolutionary biologist but it makes sense to me to expend the least amount of effort to survive.
We have a tendency to seek simple solutions to complex problems. A perfect example: vitamins. A multi billion 💵 industry based on only the scantest of evidence. In some clinical circumstances they are beneficial, sometimes life saving but in most cases the make expensive pee.
Both of my kids have ridden their bikes alone to school though all weather since the ages of 8, often to the chagrin of our local school. To them, it was normal.
There were times I would get phone calls from the school office asking to pick them up at the end of the day because it was cold outside. The conversation would get awkward when I would ask them what the temperature was in the morning when they rode in.