HHS joins vaccine trend, orders shots for its health workersHHS joins vaccine trend, orders shots for its health workersHHS joins vaccine trend, orders shots for its health workers

HHS joins vaccine trend, orders shots for its health workers

The federal Health and Human Services Department is requiring employees who provide care or services for patients to get their COVID-19 shots, officials announced Thursday.

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Apple aims to push more patient data to doctors. But who can gauge its impact on health?Apple aims to push more patient data to doctors. But who can gauge its impact on health?Apple aims to push more patient data to doctors. But who can gauge its impact on health?

Apple aims to push more patient data to doctors. But who can gauge its impact on health?

Apple announced recently it will soon enable doctors to monitor health data from their patients’ phones and watches between visits.

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Overwhelmed by COVID-19: A day inside a Louisiana hospitalOverwhelmed by COVID-19: A day inside a Louisiana hospitalOverwhelmed by COVID-19: A day inside a Louisiana hospital

Overwhelmed by COVID-19: A day inside a Louisiana hospital

Before the latest surge of the coronavirus, Louisiana neurologist Robin Davis focused on her specialty: treating patients with epilepsy. These days, as virus patients flood her hospital in record numbers, she has taken on the additional duties of nurse, janitor and orderly.

“I was giving bed baths on Sunday, emptying trash cans, changing sheets, rolling patients to MRI,” said Davis, who has been coming in on her days off to provide some relief to overworked nurses at Ochsner Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson.

The rapidly escalating surge in COVID-19 infections across the U.S. is once again overwhelming hospitals, especially in hot spots such as Louisiana, which hit a record number of coronavirus hospitalizations last week. Nearly 2,900 virus patients are currently hospitalized — and state health officials say the number of cases may not peak for several more weeks. Louisiana has the country's fourth-lowest vaccination rate, with just a little more than 37% of residents fully inoculated.

On a recent day at Ochsner, healthcare providers rushed up and down halls, throwing on and taking off protective clothing every time they entered a new area of the building. In dozens of ICU rooms, patients lay pallid and motionless, tubes down their throats, as beeping machines pumped drugs into their system and ventilators forced air into their weakened lungs. Healthcare contractors brought in from other hospitals quickly familiarized themselves with a new environment as they rushed to ease the load of the overtaxed staff.

“We’re trying to provide the most consistent care we can, but to do that we need more hands,” Davis said. “One of the biggest issues for our nurses is, the volume of patients is such that we’re having to create beds that didn’t previously exist. We’re having to find providers that weren’t previously put in place.”

AN OVERWHELMING CASELOAD

Ochsner Health is the largest healthcare provider in Louisiana, with 40 medical facilities across the state. More than 1,000 people — nearly 40% of the state’s currently hospitalized coronavirus patients — are being treated at Ochsner’s facilities. Roughly 200 of those are at the main campus in Jefferson, where three floors in the hospital’s West Tower have been built out as care units for coronavirus patients.

Resources have been strained to the limit across the state with hospitals starting to turn away people with other life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks or strokes. Elective surgeries and other nonurgent care have been suspended.

Davis said there’s no greater need for her help than in Ochsner’s thinly stretched nursing department. She noted that her many recent duties have included fetching medication for nurses and pushing patients in wheelchairs.

“If it took pressure off a nurse, if it gave her time to do what she needed to do, that’s what we did,” she said. “Sunday was supposed to be my day off with my kids, but we need help here, and one day I want to be able to tell those two little boys I did the thing that was needed at the time it was needed.”

NURSES HELPING NURSES

In Ochsner Medical Center's intensive care unit, nurses Joan Blizzard and Arthur Bienvenu try to care for each other along with their coronavirus patients.

They tie each other's gowns, prep medicines and machines together with barely a word, shuffle in and out of patients' rooms, their eyes the only part of their faces visible through their protective gear.

For the past year and a half, Bienvenu said, working 50 to 60 hours a week caring for patients and being surrounded by fellow staff has helped him cope with the loss of his father to the virus last year.

He said he shares his father’s story with other grieving families, including how his dad was on a ventilator for more than 20 days in the spring and how his family had to make the difficult decision to take him off it.

“The outcome wouldn’t be what he wanted,” Bienvenu said. “He wouldn’t want to live with the trach and PEG (feeding tube) and the severity of the situation, so we decided to transition to comfort from progressive measures, and the little bit of dignity and respect my dad had left, we preserved that.”

Bienvenu said working with other families experiencing loss has helped give him purpose during the most tragic time of his life.

“People would ask me, ‘Why are you still coming in?’" he said. "Because these people need us, you know? We have to put a stop to this. Everybody has a different path through this. I’m blessed to be around the people I’m around. That’s the only way I’m here.”

Critical care nurse Mary Lubrano has watched her colleagues running up and down the intensive care unit hallway at Ochsner Medical Center while she lies in a hospital bed with the virus. She has been hospitalized for two weeks and counting, her breathing labored as she suffers from low oxygen.

“That was me," she said of the other nurses, her voice choking with emotion. “And I wanted to be able to help them.”

Lubrano works in the critical care unit at St. Bernard Parish Hospital, an Ochsner-run facility near her home in Chalmette, where she was initially hospitalized before being transferred to the Jefferson campus.

She said she still checks her emails as often as possible to see how her fellow nurses in Chalmette are holding up.

“They are busting their butts there, and they are full of COVID patients, and it’s the same nurses on the schedule every day. They just go and go,” she said. “As a nurse, it’s all about giving back, so I can’t wait to get back out there.”

IT'S WORSE THIS TIME

The magnitude of this most recent coronavirus surge — largely spurred by the highly contagious delta variant — is profound, Blizzard said.

“People are getting sick so quickly this time,” she said. “They will be talking to you, and within hours, we’re having multiple people at the bedside" performing emergency procedures. "It is so scary.”

If they survive, many will live with years of impairment, she said.

Bienvenu wants people to understand the severity of the current situation.

“It hits all of us different,” he said. “Yes, one individual can have coughs or sneezes, but another individual can be on a ventilator."

WISHING THEY HAD BEEN VACCINATED

Jerome Batiste, a 26-year-old New Orleans resident, said he so rarely got sick he didn’t think he needed the coronavirus vaccine. He assumed he had a strong immune system, having gone the entire pandemic without getting infected, he said.

As he sat by a window in a recovery room in one of Ochsner’s COVID units, taking in some sunshine from the bench near his hospital bed, he said he’s not only wishing he’d gotten the vaccine but wants everyone he knows to get it, “and I’ll go if they need somebody to go with them.”

Batiste isn’t sure where he contracted the virus but said he had been on a family trip to Disney World and had also visited friends in the weeks before falling ill.

“It just happened,” he said. “It just came out of the blue. I started coughing a lot.”

He said he took over-the-counter cough medicine, hoping it would pass, but “it just got worse and worse, and I started throwing up a lot, and I couldn’t keep anything down.”

Since he was admitted to the hospital last week, he’s been given vitamins, steroids, breathing treatments and shots to prevent blood clots. He’s also developed a rare condition in which his body’s muscle tissue has begun to break down, requiring a kidney flush to prevent further illness.

Batiste said he’s telling family and friends to not get “comfortable” when it comes to the virus and to protect themselves with the shot.

“I just didn’t take it as serious as most young people should,” he said, a port with tubes for his medicine sticking out of his right forearm. “You’re never too safe to go and get vaccinated.”

Mary Lubrano, the critical care nurse now ill with COVID-19, said she had never been hospitalized until this year. She said she had intended to get vaccinated, but a breast cancer diagnosis in February, followed by surgery and radiation to eradicate it, caused her to put off the shot.

She said she was also nervous about jeopardizing her health after a relative suffered a stroke shortly after receiving the vaccine. She knows most people have mild side effects, if any, but she was still hesitant. The vaccines have been proven to be safe in studies and in use in more than half the U.S. population and are far less risky than the virus itself.

“I had my follow-up, getting brave to do my vaccine, and I got COVID instead,” said Lubrano, who called it the scariest time in her life. “You take breathing for granted. … When you sit down and can’t get air in your lungs ... that is so fearful, and I don’t want anyone to ever have to feel that way.”

Lubrano said her husband fell ill first and was hospitalized while she quarantined at home. He has since been released and is recovering at home, still on oxygen, she said.

Since her hospitalization, Lubrano's entire family — her daughters, sisters and their spouses — have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

“I made it my mission to make sure nobody has to suffer this way,” she said, an oxygen tube attached to her nose. “Everyone needs to be vaccinated. We’ll never beat this any other way.”

Davis, the neurologist who has been forced to take on added duties during the most recent coronavirus surge, says she can’t stress enough the importance of getting vaccinated. She recalls how a year ago — before vaccines were available — she watched helplessly as friends and neighbors died.

“They were people that didn’t have a chance,” she said. “There was nothing we could do to stop this for them. You’ve got a chance now. You have something that gives you the opportunity to have a fate that isn’t like theirs. Please don’t squander it.”

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Study: Extra COVID shot helps protect transplant patientsStudy: Extra COVID shot helps protect transplant patientsStudy: Extra COVID shot helps protect transplant patients

Study: Extra COVID shot helps protect transplant patients

Millions with suppressed immune systems because of transplants, cancer or other disorders don't always get that benefit of a robust immune response from COVID-19 vaccines.

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Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID casesMississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID casesMississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID cases

Mississippi opening field hospital amid surge of COVID cases

Mississippi's state Health Department said 35% of Mississippi residents are fully vaccinated, compared to about 50% nationally.

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Emergency departments slammed as COVID-19 cases rise in FloridaEmergency departments slammed as COVID-19 cases rise in FloridaEmergency departments slammed as COVID-19 cases rise in Florida

Emergency departments slammed as COVID-19 cases rise in Florida

While the emergency departments are slammed with COVID patients and people being treated for non-COVID emergencies, they are also experiencing a spike in the number of people coming in to get tested for the virus.

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எட்டா பிறழ்வாக மீண்டும் உருமாறியுள்ள கொரோனா வைரஸ்... இந்தமுறை கர்நாடகா வரை வந்துவிட்டதாம்... உஷார்! எட்டா பிறழ்வாக மீண்டும் உருமாறியுள்ள கொரோனா வைரஸ்... இந்தமுறை கர்நாடகா வரை வந்துவிட்டதாம்... உஷார்!

ஆகஸ்ட் 5 ஆம் தேதி, கர்நாடகாவின் மங்களூருவில் கொரோனா வைரஸின் எட்டா மாறுபாடு கண்டறியப்பட்டது. சமீபத்தில் துபாயில் இருந்து திரும்பிய ஒரு நபருக்கு வைரஸ் திரிபு அடையாளம் காணப்பட்டதாக தகவல்கள் கூறுகின்றன. ஆனால் சுகாதார அதிகாரிகளின் கூற்றுப்படி, கர்நாடகாவில் இது எட்டா வகையின் முதல் வழக்கு அல்ல. ஏப்ரல் 2020 இல், நிம்ஹான்ஸின் வைராலஜி ஆய்வகத்தில் மேலும்

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கட்டுமஸ்தான உடலை பெற நீங்க உடற்பயிற்சி மட்டுமில்லாம இதையும் செய்யணுமாம்...! கட்டுமஸ்தான உடலை பெற நீங்க உடற்பயிற்சி மட்டுமில்லாம இதையும் செய்யணுமாம்...!

நீங்கள் உடற்பயிற்சி செய்தாலும் உங்கள் உணவில் கவனம் செலுத்தவில்லை என்றால், அது உங்கள் உடல் ஆரோக்கியம், மன ஆரோக்கியம் மற்றும் நல்வாழ்வை எதிர்மறையாக பாதிக்கும். நல்ல ஆரோக்கியத்திற்கு உடற்பயிற்சி மற்றும் சரியான உணவு இரண்டும் அவசியம். இப்போதெல்லாம் ஆரோக்கியமற்ற வாழ்க்கை முறையால், மக்கள் தங்கள் உடற்திறனில் அதிக கவனம் செலுத்தத் தொடங்கியுள்ளனர். உங்கள் ஆரோக்கியம், மகிழ்ச்சி மற்றும்

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ஆண்களே! உங்க அந்தரங்க உறுப்பு சுகாதாரம் பற்றி கூறும் கட்டுக்கதைகள் என்னென்ன தெரியுமா? ஆண்களே! உங்க அந்தரங்க உறுப்பு சுகாதாரம் பற்றி கூறும் கட்டுக்கதைகள் என்னென்ன தெரியுமா?

பொதுவாக ஒரு பெண்ணின் அந்தரங்க உறுப்பு சுகாதாரம் பற்றி பேசும் நாம் ஆண்களின் அந்தரங்க உறுப்பு சுகாதாரத்தைப் பற்றி பேசுவதில்லை. ஒரு ஆணின் பிறப்புறுப்பு சுகாதாரம் ஒரு பெண்ணின் பிறப்புறுப்பு சுகாதாரம் போலவே மிகவும் முக்கியமானது. சொல்லப்போனால், ஒரு ஆணின் சுகாதாரத் தேவைகள் ஒரு பெண்ணின் உடலைப் போலவே வேறுபடுகின்றன. நீண்ட காலமாக, அந்தரங்க உறுப்பு கவனிப்பு

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உயிருக்கே ஆபத்தாகும் மஞ்சள் காமாலைக்கு ஆயுர்வேதம் கூறும் எளிய வீட்டு வைத்தியங்கள் என்ன தெரியுமா?உயிருக்கே ஆபத்தாகும் மஞ்சள் காமாலைக்கு ஆயுர்வேதம் கூறும் எளிய வீட்டு வைத்தியங்கள் என்ன தெரியுமா?

மஞ்சள் காமாலை எந்த வயதிலும் ஏற்படக்கூடிய பொதுவான நோய்களில் ஒன்றாகும். இது சளி சவ்வுகள் மற்றும் தோலின் மஞ்சள் நிறமாற்றம் ஏற்படும் ஒரு நிலை. இரத்தத்தில் பிலிரூபின் எனப்படும் பித்த நிறமிகளின் அதிகரிப்பு காரணமாக இது பெரும்பாலும் நிகழ்கிறது. இது மிகவும் பொதுவான கல்லீரல் கோளாறுகளில் ஒன்றாகும், இது கிட்டத்தட்ட எல்லா மக்களையும் தங்கள்

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எபோலாவை விட கொடிய கொரோனாவை விட வேகமாக பரவக்கூடிய மரணத்தை உண்டாக்கும் மார்பர்க் வைரஸ்!எபோலாவை விட கொடிய கொரோனாவை விட வேகமாக பரவக்கூடிய மரணத்தை உண்டாக்கும் மார்பர்க் வைரஸ்!

ஏற்கனவே கொரோனா என்னும் கொடிய வைரஸ் தாக்கத்தால் உலகமே திணறிக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. இதுவரை ஏராளமான உயிர்களை இழந்துள்ளோம். கொரோனாவிற்கு தடுப்பூசி கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டு மக்களுக்கு போட்டு வந்தாலும், இன்னும் அந்த வைரஸ் மக்களிடையே பரவிக் கொண்டு இருக்கிறது. இந்நிலையில் மேற்கு ஆப்பிரிக்காவில் எபோலாவை விட கொடிய மற்றும் கொரோனாவை விட அதிவேகமாக பரவக்கூடிய திறன் கொண்ட

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CVS Health launches virtual primary care for Aetna membersCVS Health launches virtual primary care for Aetna membersCVS Health launches virtual primary care for Aetna members

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Aetna Virtual Primary Care is available under self-funded employer plans and provides eligible policyholders with remote and in-person services.

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Scripps Health cyberattack cost the company $113 millionScripps Health cyberattack cost the company $113 millionScripps Health cyberattack cost the company $113 million

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The San Diego-based health system incurred $113 million in lost revenue and added expenses from the May ransomware attack. The company also faces proposed class-action lawsuits from affected patients.

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Biden shutting the door on Medicaid work requirementsBiden shutting the door on Medicaid work requirementsBiden shutting the door on Medicaid work requirements

Biden shutting the door on Medicaid work requirements

Georgia is the only state still standing in the battle over Medicaid work rules after CMS pulled approval for similar mandates in Ohio, South Carolina and Utah.

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U.S. sets new record for drug overdose deaths at 95,000U.S. sets new record for drug overdose deaths at 95,000U.S. sets new record for drug overdose deaths at 95,000

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Overdose deaths climbed 31% last year, highlighting the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the opioid crisis.

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Demographics impact survival rate for liver transplant patientsDemographics impact survival rate for liver transplant patientsDemographics impact survival rate for liver transplant patients

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Between 2017 and 2018, Black patients had a 60% higher chance of dying after a liver transplant than white patients.

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Wildfires can cause mental health damage that smolders years after the flames go outWildfires can cause mental health damage that smolders years after the flames go outWildfires can cause mental health damage that smolders years after the flames go out

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"Most people are resilient and can recover," said Susan Clayton, a professor of psychology at Ohio's College of Wooster. "But a significant number of people have trouble with PTSD or increases in anxiety and depression, and that can last even after the community has rebuilt."

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CDC urges COVID vaccines during pregnancy as delta surgesCDC urges COVID vaccines during pregnancy as delta surgesCDC urges COVID vaccines during pregnancy as delta surges

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged all pregnant women Wednesday to get the COVID-19 vaccine as hospitals in hot spots around the U.S. see disturbing numbers of unvaccinated mothers-to-be seriously ill with the virus.

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Groups make own drugs to fight high drug prices, shortagesGroups make own drugs to fight high drug prices, shortagesGroups make own drugs to fight high drug prices, shortages

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U.S. hospital groups, startups and nonprofits have started making their own medicines in a bid to combat stubbornly high prices and persistent shortages of drugs with little competition.

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CDC and ONC are co-leading a work group to assess the interoperability of the U.S.'s public health data systems, as mandated by a Biden executive order.

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