SPECIAL REPORT: How COVID-19 affects our community

An increase in COVID-19 positive patients and a stagnate number of healthcare workers have come together to create the perfect storm that is the current COVID-19 crisis.

Trauma beds across Texas are scarce, making it hard for Goodall-Witcher Hospital in Clifton to move patients who need a higher level of care. Such hardships were seen when GWH needed to move a patient at a time when there were virtually no open beds in Texas.

Even doctors usually available over Telemedicine have been stretched thin.

“We can intubate them, we can set the vent, we can do all of that. But the thing with COVID patients is they are on vents for two weeks,” said GWH President and CEO Adam Willmann. “So what do we need to do?”

Willmann said the patient needed a pulmonologist and after calling 50 plus hospitals across Texas, as well as Oklahoma, Louisiana and southwest New Mexico, they were finally able to set a line of communication up. But it was a personal connection through Chief Nursing Officer Joycesarah McCabe that made the difference.

Through that connection the patient was able to get on the waitlist for a bed in New Mexico and when the bed became available, GWH put the wheels in motion to fly the patient out.

When The Clifton Record spoke to Willmann and McCabe last Thursday, the patient was set to be extubated and was reported to be doing well.

“And that’s what we do,” said Willmann. “We are equipped to stabilize and transfer patients who need an ICU. And we do that really well.”

But Willmann said the shortage of beds has taken an emotional toll on the staff.

“Now we’re doing this for five days and the emotional toll is, ‘Could I have done more?’” said Willmann. “Why can’t we get the help we need?”

Willmann said he is pro choice on whether or not to take the vaccine but has witnessed firsthand what remaining unvaccinated against COVID-19 can do.

“What you’ll find is the people who made a choice now aren’t happy with the consequences of that choice,” said Willmann.

On a normal day it would only take a couple hours to find a bed for a patient, but just when ICU beds became scarce McCabe said it took the span of an entire shift to get a patient out to a higher level of care, and only escalated from there.

“But by the time we needed to get the second one out it became so hard,” said McCabe.

Willmann said this is a story not many are telling, and every single hospital is fighting the same battle.

“I’ve talked to friends who work in bigger hospitals and they said they have empty beds. There’s just no staff for them,” said Willmann.

Willmann said after GWH’s interview with KWTX he had the chance to talk to Texas Senator Brian Birdwell, who asked what the hospital needed as far as equipment, staff and funding went.

“We don’t need any of that, we need that to go to a place with ICU capabilities and expand those,” said Willmann.

Willmann said GWH is equipped to take care of patients who don’t need ICUs.

“But these people are the sick of the sick,” said Willmann.

President Joe Biden has announced his administration will require nursing home staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and Willmann believes this mandate and those that could follow will be detrimental to healthcare institutions.

“When a politician is starting to mandate [the vaccine], people are going to fight it, whether they believe in it or not,” said Willmann. “I don’t know how many of my staff are going to stay here.”

So what can we do to persuade people to get vaccinated on their own?

Dr. Justin Squyres recently lost his brother to COVID-19 and Willmann said after he was featured on KWTX, there was a surge of people getting vaccinated in the community.

“How can you argue with a guy like that?” said Willmann. “He has no political gain in this situation.”

Squyres’ brother was in the process of being transferred at another hospital at the same time GWH was working to transfer their patient to New Mexico.

“See how a bed comes up? One happy and one not so happy,” said Willmann.

Willmann went on to say the struggle reaches much further than COVID patients alone.

“If you come in with a stroke and you need an ICU, you’re not going to get one,” said Willmann.

McCabe said a patient came in with all the signs of an impending heart attack but because there were no ICU beds, the patient left the facility against medical advice.

Squyres said although the vaccine will not prevent you from getting COVID, it can keep you out of the ICU or worse. But according to him, the way the vaccine is marketed to the public is its own biggest obstacle.

“This has been publicized, politicized and polarized in so many different ways that people don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” said Squyres. “All I can tell my patients is what I see.”

“I feel like our society is an all or none thing,” said Willmann. “It’s either the vaccine doesn’t work and you will die or the vaccine is 100% safe and 100% effective. Both of those are false.”

Willmann said the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Squyres said he has yet to admit anyone to the hospital who has had the vaccine, but that’s not to say it’s not possible.

“They do drop your chance of having to be admitted down to a very low number, I would even say to less than a percent. And the chances of death are even lower,” said Squyres.

Squyres said because the vaccine is so new it’s okay for people to ask questions about long-term side effects, but the same could be said about any medication.

“There’s a possibility for Tylenol to cause liver failure but people still take it,” said Squyres. “Part of the issue is there are people in leadership who are saying the vaccine is 100% safe. There isn’t anything out there that is 100% safe.”

“I think the point should not be to say we are trying to stop the spread of COVID by getting everybody vaccinated, but to say we are trying to keep you out of the hospital or the cemetery,” said Squyres.

Squyres said gone are the days where we can stop the spread, but we can better manage those who are getting sick.

“I don’t think you’ll have everybody go get the vaccination until they have been personally touched,” said Willmann. “That means some great life is going to have to be sacrificed for someone to change their viewpoint.”

Because the stress level for healthcare professionals has been so high for so long, many have faced burnout or have quit the field altogether. On top of that, larger hospitals are enticing staff from smaller facilities to work for them with sign-on bonuses and guaranteed overtime.

Because they were losing staff and their census was going up, GWH started working on a strategic plan to help their staff cope with their stress.

“Right now our staff, from the top down, are doing an amazing job, but they are exhausted mentally and emotionally,” said Willmann. “But they still come in every day.”

“The clinicians who are here are here because they are really committed to this hospital and this community,” said McCabe.

Willmann said you have to remember that these doctors and nurses are taking care of their family, friends and collegues.

“Think about treating your mom or your cousin knowing you’re about to have to intubate them. That’s the emotional toll happening at Goodall-Witcher,” said Willmann.

Willmann said the hospital had very little time to prepare for the recent wave of COVID-19 patients.

“The week of July 4th we tested 52 people. The majority of those were so they could travel,” said Willmann. “That very next week we had 120, then 150, then 180. [The week of the 9th] we did 251.”

Willmann said there was a 30% positivity rate and 70% of those positive were ages 60 and under with the youngest being four months old.

“We didn’t see that last time and now I’m concerned about losing a whole generation of people,” said McCabe.

Willmann said of all their positive cases, 100% of the patients transferred to a higher level of care have been unvaccinated.

“We aren’t saying there aren’t people in other hospitals who are dying and have been vaccinated, but the people we are treating and sending home with medication have been vaccinated and they rebound,” said Willmann.

McCabe said there were several things GWH wanted the community to know.

“One, getting the vaccine absolutely is a personal choice. If you don’t get the vaccine there is a much better likelihood that you will end up on a ventilator or you will die,” said McCabe. “I’m not guessing, I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid. I have nothing to gain from this, but from what I see, the chances of you dying without that vaccine go up tremendously.”

McCabe also said it would be wise to wash your hands often and take care of your immune system.

“That means you do things like get enough sleep, drink enough uncaffeinated fluids like water or orange juice. Make sure you get enough vitamin D,” said McCabe.

She also said doing things like carrying a clean conscience can have a positive effect on your immune system.

“Try to stay out of a crowd,” said McCabe. “If you’re sick, please stay home. And please wear a mask if you’re going to be out.”

McCabe said masks do work to help prevent the spread of infections.

“If everyone wears one then everyone is keeping their own germs to themselves,” said McCabe.

McCabe also said you should not be so afraid that you become disconnected and let this take over your life because that will also lower your immune response.

“People are afraid and I get that, and people are angry and I get that. But I think that is because this is something we cannot control,” said McCabe.

McCabe said this has now turned into a war between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated and all we do is lose when we do that.

“The devil here is COVID,” said McCabe. “It’s a waste of time and energy to argue about the vaccinated and unvaccinated when what we need to be doing is battling COVID and taking care of one another.”

“This isn’t about politics,” said Willmann. “We are here to take care of you and we will do everything within our power to get you well and get you home.”

Willmann and McCabe said they want to be transparent with the community and invite anyone to come speak with them.

“I don’t want Bosque County citizens being terrified of the current situation, but they need to have a respectful fear of what is really happening,” said Willmann. “We are trying to educate people about what is going on in their own hospital.”