Nurses and doctors clear themselves as they shock a COVID-19 patient whose heart stopped after appearing stable moments earlier, Monday, April 20, 2020, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers, N.Y. The emergency room team saved the patients life after several rounds of defibrillation and CPR.
COVID-19 | INSIDE A NEW YORK E.R.
APRIL 20, 2020 - The Associated Press
NEW YORK HOSPITALS ARE UNDER SIEGE. Deluged by patients stricken with COVID-19, a virus just recently named and its symptoms, vectors, and lethality still thinly understood, the Saint Josephs Hospital emergency staff saves a man from the brink.
Images by JOHN MINCHILLO, Words with BRIAN MAHONEY
Saint Joseph's Medical Center, which sits near the Bronx border and serves one of the poorest sections of Westchester County’s largest city Yonkers, has been besieged by the new coronavirus. Half of the approximately 280 staff members who were tested for the disease were positive — with another 25 to 30 still awaiting results, according to Dean Civitello, the vice president for human resources.
The Associated Press was granted access to the facility’s emergency room, which at one point earlier in the pandemic had 28 patients waiting to be treated and ambulances lined up outside with more, said Dr. James Neuendorf, Saint Joseph’s medical director.
After multiple rounds of cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocols and defibrillation, the medical staff successfully revived the patient.
A ventilator is rushed in to assist the revived COVID-19 patient’s breathing.
The scene after the successful revival as a ventilator is prepared for use.
More than 900 have died in Westchester, which had an early outbreak in neighboring New Rochelle in March before Yonkers became a hot spot. At Saint Joseph’s, coronavirus-related symptoms accounted for more than 85% of all admissions for a period of nearly four weeks from March 20 to April 19.
Officials at the hospital knew the pandemic was going to crush them, since COVID-19 has proved particularly punishing for the largely minority population that makes up a significant portion of southwest Yonkers.
The community was hit so hard that a tent was erected outside the hospital on March 19 to accommodate the rush of people seeking to be tested. In the first few days it was up, 150 to 175 people were examined each day to determine who should be tested, according to Catherine Hopkins, Saint Joseph’s director of school health and community relations.
“IT’S BEEN A NIGHTMARE. WE HAVE A VOLUME OF SICK PEOPLE LIKE YOU CAN’T BELIEVE. IN ONE SHIFT, I PRONOUNCED SIX PEOPLE DEAD.”
— Dr. Anthony Leno, the hospital’s director of emergency medicine
Dr. Anthony Leno, nearing the end of his shift.
During the earliest stages of the pandemic and its peak in New York, ventilators were critical equipment. A national shortage caused major supply problems at a time when medical professionals lacked tested and effective protocols to handle the virus. With time and experience, the equipment became one element of treatment options.
A patient with COVID-19 symptoms arrives from a nursing home as Dr. Anthony Leno, second from right, and medical staff begin treatment procedures.
“We’ve had many family members and groups, and we’ve even had people from the same family who have died within days of each other,” Leno said.
Even some in the area who may otherwise be reluctant to seek medical care, fearing the loss of pay or in some cases deportation, showed up after seeing the effects of the coronavirus.
“PEOPLE ARE AFRAID. THEY’RE SCARED. THEIR RELATIVES, THEIR FRIENDS ARE DYING.”
— Catherine Hopkins, Saint Joseph’s director of school health and community relations
As is the morale of the staff, who fear for their own health, are juggling responsibilities when their colleagues are ill and are bombarded — even more than usual — with death and disease. Though there’s still a steady stream of patients wearing masks being wheeled into the ER every day, the staff is optimistic that the worst is over. But there is also the fear that people will rush too quickly back to their lives — potentially triggering another flurry of infections.
“IT IS TIRING. IT IS STRESSFUL. YOU’RE WATCHING PEOPLE BE SICK. YOU’RE WATCHING PEOPLE SUCCUMB TO THE DISEASE. IT WEIGHS ON YOU MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY.”
— Margaret Cusumano, chief nursing officer
The scene inside the Intensive Care Unit. Medical personnel, braving risk of infection during supply and staffing shortages, attempt to maintain distance.
Emergency Medical Technicians transport patients from the Saint Joseph's Medical Center emergency room as Dr. Anthony Leno waits outside the delivery bay.