Connecticut and its hospitals grapple with possible shortages of a key component of COVID-19 patient care: Ventilators
A remarkable collaboration by hospitals and government has expanded the number of beds available for the state’s COVID-19 patients, but there is now a potentially greater challenge: how to find the ventilators that will be a critical component of treating the surge of patient admissions expected to fill the beds at month’s end.
There are slightly more than 1,100 ventilators in
To make up the deficit, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office is trying to strike deals with private manufactures while continuing to plead with the
‘We think we have a game plan for those 12,000 beds,” said
Hospitals are now using about half of the state’s ventilator supply, according to government and medical officials. Geballe said state hospitals have enough ventilators to meet short-term patient needs. Shortages could become critical later this month or early next month if worst case surge projections materialize, particularly in hard-hit
There were 6,906 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the state Monday evening, with 1,221 hospitalizations. About half the hospitalizations are in
“We are comfortable to manage the surge to come,” he said.
“As patients have been coming in sequentially, we’re able to absorb that,” he said. “If they come in all at once, that’s the problem.”
Asking the
Ventilators are complex medical devices operated by trained therapists. The machines regulate and assist patient breathing through a tube inserted into the trachea. and can be critical in the survival of COVID-19 patients. The virus attacks lungs in a way that impairs the body’s ability to distribute oxygen. Oxygen deficit exacerbates pre-existing conditions and critically ill patients are likely to die without ventilation, medical experts said.
Patient survival rates decrease after long periods of ventilation and those discharged may require rehabilitation.
The doctors said projections based on the pandemic so far show that about 20% of COVID-19 patients require hospitalization and a fraction of those require ventilation.
As recently as late last month, there was wide concern that the state would not have enough hospital beds to meet a surge in hospitalizations. Several factors appear to have reduced the threat of a bed shortage, according to Geballe and others. Hospitals complied with Lamont’s request that they expand beds by 50% by reorganizing short-term medical priorities. Mobile field hospitals have created additional capacity. And there are contingency plans to create even more beds, if necessary, by expanding hospital operations into vacant hospital buildings, unused nursing homes and even sports arenas. Social distancing and other mitigation measures also may reduce admissions.
The added hospital capacity pushed ventilators, the subject of global shortages, to the top of the state’s priority list.
A week ago, Lamont ordered 100 ventilators from manufacturer BioMed Devices in
The state asked the Trump administration for 1,500 ventilators a week ago and got 50. Geballe said the governor continues to press
Governors across the country have been critical of the
Lamont and his staff speak daily with state hospital administrators and the
“It is clear that we are going to need additional ventilators," the
Kumar said Hartford Health Care’s shipment of ventilators to
Dr.
Multiperson devices would be used in limited, emergency situations, Anwar said. Their use could create risks and they would have to be operated by highly trained respiratory therapists, he said.
Anwar said he made the design public and it has been downloaded from the internet tens of thousands of times in 313 U.S. cities and in 80 countries. He said the device has been approved for use in
He said some pulmonary medical societies have warned against the expansion of ventilators because of the risks, but he believes the potential benefits in an emergency outweigh limitations.
“It is one thing to sit around at a conference and oppose something,” Anwar said. “I’m on the front line, in the ICU, fighting to save lives. The way I look at it is, ‘Great. Tell it to my patient, who is going to die.’ "
Courant staff writers
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