Verónica Verdino, an Argentine doctor, helped a therapist insert a tube into the trachea of a COVID-19 patient during another hectic day in a hospital emergency room.
Verdino, 31, has become adept at the delicate procedure during the current outbreak of coronavirus cases that has filled clinics in Buenos Aires and nearby towns with patients.
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Verónica Verdino, an Argentine doctor, helped a therapist insert a tube into the trachea of a COVID-19 patient during another hectic day in a hospital emergency room.
Now doctors who used to be on duty in general wards have become experts in this and other complex techniques typical of intensive care specialists as they help patients who are seriously ill with COVID-19. Some wards have been converted into intensive care units because the outbreak is straining the health system.
“We’re cutting corners everywhere ... We have all the illnesses other than COVID, plus this (coronavirus) wave that exploded,” Verdino told The Associated Press during a recent 24-hour shift.
The patient died. Verdina and her colleague, Stephanie Muñoz, took time to prepare the man’s body and the room before his son viewed him through the window of the door.
“I was used to working a lot but this overwhelms you in everything,” said nurse Silvia Cardoso, who works with Verdino.
Police in some Argentine towns often break up clandestine parties. In restaurants that serve outdoors, tables full of diners are placed close to each other. Parks are full of people having picnics and playing sports. There are frequent social protests, including for higher wages, in Buenos Aires.
If people don't collaborate, “the point will come where the health system collapses,” Verdino said.
Dr. Veronica Verdino touches a non-COVID-19 patient who is waiting for a tomography at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. "We're cutting corners everywhere ... We have all the illnesses other than COVID, plus this (coronavirus) wave that exploded," Verdino said during a recent 24-hour shift. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A man sits in a corridor as he waits for news of his wife who is a suspected COVID-19 case at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 1, 2021. The man's wife was intubated and a few days later passed away. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino performs CPR on a COVID-19 patient who had a fatal heart attack while intubating him at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Verdina and her colleague took time to prepare the man's body and the room before his son viewed him through the window of the door. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A healthcare worker pushes a coffin with the remains of a patient who died from COVID-19 at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Friday, April 23, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Healthcare workers seal a coffin of a COVID-19 victim patient at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Friday, April 23, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Cemetery workers push the coffin of a COVID-19 victim at a cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino puts on protective gear to attend a COVID-19 patient at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. If people don't collaborate, "the point will come where the health system collapses," Verdino said, referring to measures aimed at preventing the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino approaches the door to tell the son of a COVID-19 patient that his father died at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. General ward medics like Verdino have learned to master intubations, complex sedation drugs, electrocardiograms, CT scans and laryngoscopes as oxygen supplies become scarce. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A little over a year ago, before the pandemic hit Argentina, Verdino did not imagine that she would be performing so many intubations, and helping others with the same procedure, at the Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in the town of Lomas de Zamora, outside Buenos Aires.
A heath worker waits to admit a COVID-19 patient to Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. The current outbreak of coronavirus cases has filled clinics in Buenos Aires and nearby towns with patients. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Now doctors who used to be on duty in general wards have become experts in this and other complex techniques typical of intensive care specialists as they help patients who are seriously ill with COVID-19. Some wards have been converted into intensive care units because the outbreak is straining the health system.
The situation at the hospital where Verdino works is similar in many public and private health facilities in Buenos Aires and nearby towns, with an average of more than 20,000 infections and 400 deaths per day in recent weeks and 100% occupation of ICUs in some centers.
Doctors say they are seeing many younger patients, partly because youths are being infected with coronavirus variants at social gatherings, while older people are protected by vaccines they have received.
A healthcare worker pushes a woman who is suspected of having COVID-19 into Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 1, 2021. Doctors say they are seeing many younger patients, partly because youths are being infected with coronavirus variants at social gatherings, while older people are protected by vaccines they have received. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
“We’re cutting corners everywhere ... We have all the illnesses other than COVID, plus this (coronavirus) wave that exploded,” Verdino told The Associated Press during a recent 24-hour shift.
The husband of the woman who was intubated by Verdino stared dejectedly through the glass from the other side of a door. Nearby, in another room, two patients lay connected to respirators. A few meters away, a man who had just died was placed in a black plastic bag.
A few days later, on another grueling shift, Verdino climbed onto a small bench next to the bed of a man she had tried to intubate, leaned over his chest and performed CPR in a desperate attempt to save his life. Several of her colleagues helped her.
A man watches his wife who is suspected of having COVID-19 as she is attended at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 1, 2021. The man's wife was intubated and a few days later passed away. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
The patient died. Verdina and her colleague, Stephanie Muñoz, took time to prepare the man’s body and the room before his son viewed him through the window of the door.
Nurses describe a situation known as “warm bed”, in which a patient who has died is promptly replaced in a room by another seriously ill person.
General ward medics have also learned to master the use of complex drugs that keep patients sedated and to study electrocardiograms and CT scans, as well as to perform laryngoscopes. They do it as oxygen supplies become scarce in hospitals, which have formed networks to assist each other when they can.
Healthcare workers attend a COVID-19 patient at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, April 23, 2021. The situation at this hospital is similar in many public and private health facilities in Buenos Aires and nearby towns, with an average of more than 20,000 infections and 400 deaths per day in recent weeks and 100% occupation of ICUs in some centers. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
“I was used to working a lot but this overwhelms you in everything,” said nurse Silvia Cardoso, who works with Verdino.
Cardoso said she was shocked by the number of young people who are hospitalized with serious symptoms, something that did not happen previously.
“It could be prevented,” she lamented, suggesting that some young people had not observed health protocols.
Dr. Veronica Verdino holds the arm of a patient waiting for a tomography at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Some wards have been converted into ICUs because the outbreak is straining the health system. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Police in some Argentine towns often break up clandestine parties. In restaurants that serve outdoors, tables full of diners are placed close to each other. Parks are full of people having picnics and playing sports. There are frequent social protests, including for higher wages, in Buenos Aires.
With people exhausted by quarantines and vaccination programs going slowly, politicians argue over issues such as whether to allow students back to class. During a peak of coronavirus cases, students went to school in Buenos Aires but were not allowed to do so in the city suburbs, creating a confusing situation.
Many doctors try to stay out of the political disputes, instead urging people to stick to measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease.
Dr. Veronica Verdino arrives to see patients who do not have COVID-19 but are being treated for other issues at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. "We're cutting corners everywhere ... We have all the illnesses other than COVID, plus this (coronavirus) wave that exploded," Verdino said during a recent 24-hour shift. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
If people don't collaborate, “the point will come where the health system collapses,” Verdino said.
Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report.
A healthcare worker stands outside Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 1, 2021, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Many doctors try to stay out of the political disputes, instead urging people to stick to measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino touches a non-COVID-19 patient who is waiting for a tomography at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. "We're cutting corners everywhere ... We have all the illnesses other than COVID, plus this (coronavirus) wave that exploded," Verdino said during a recent 24-hour shift. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A man sits in a corridor as he waits for news of his wife who is a suspected COVID-19 case at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 1, 2021. The man's wife was intubated and a few days later passed away. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino performs CPR on a COVID-19 patient who had a fatal heart attack while intubating him at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Verdina and her colleague took time to prepare the man's body and the room before his son viewed him through the window of the door. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A healthcare worker pushes a coffin with the remains of a patient who died from COVID-19 at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Friday, April 23, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Healthcare workers seal a coffin of a COVID-19 victim patient at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Friday, April 23, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Cemetery workers push the coffin of a COVID-19 victim at a cemetery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Argentina has so far reported more than 67,300 confirmed deaths and more than 3.1 million people sickened by the disease. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino puts on protective gear to attend a COVID-19 patient at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. If people don't collaborate, "the point will come where the health system collapses," Verdino said, referring to measures aimed at preventing the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Dr. Veronica Verdino approaches the door to tell the son of a COVID-19 patient that his father died at Llavallol Dr. Norberto Raúl Piacentini Hospital in Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Saturday, May 8, 2021. General ward medics like Verdino have learned to master intubations, complex sedation drugs, electrocardiograms, CT scans and laryngoscopes as oxygen supplies become scarce. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)