ICU positive

Many people have rightfully complained about not finding hospitals that would admit them this week. It seems that the OCTA Research group as well as the UP Mathematicians have once again been on the bulls eye in terms of their statistical analysis and projections. At least two weeks ago, Professor Guido David told me that there was a very strong possibility that hospitals would reach critical capacity levels by today. He also shared that we would be hitting the 10,000 mark for COVID cases in one day. Both have come to pass after we hit 10,016 cases last Monday.

While we are all trying to help reduce the number of infections by staying home and cooperating with authorities, one problem remains to be properly addressed and that is providing enough hospitals to treat everybody. Referring NCR-Plus patients to hospitals outside Metro Manila is a VERY BAD solution!

To drive the point home, I just received a complaint from a Lipa City resident who shared their shock when their relative could not be accepted in a local hospital because all the COVID-19 beds were already taken up NOT by Lipa City residents but referrals from the NCR-Plus. The IATF and the Duterte administration need to face the fact that hospitalizations will continue to rise and be in demand and the solution to this is to set up field hospitals. In one of my columns last year I already suggested that the government rent, buy or commandeer those events tents used for bazaars, product launches, etc. that can be air conditioned and complimented with portable toilets and showers and these would immediately function as hospitals. This is the cheapest and fastest way to set up hospitals instead of building or repurposing coliseums that are no longer available. Set them up and stop spreading the virus and the burden!

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My very good friend and pastor here in Lipa City is currently in the ICU because of COVID-19. Given how careful he has been beginning 2020, it came as a shock and has disrupted my sense of peace for several days now. To hear that friends have been infected has become so frequent and almost uneventful since every case I’ve heard of has been asymptomatic or mild. Unfortunately once every so many months, I have heard of a few who got it so bad that it landed them in the ICU or beyond.

I really don’t deal well with that sort of news ever since my Mom landed in the ICU several years ago, stayed for 15 days but ultimately went home to the Lord rather unexpectedly. Fifteen days in and out of the ICU, loitering about in the peripheral hallway and exchanging information with other caregivers and relatives of fellow ICU “watchers” can get very dark and morbid, especially if you are in the sort of ICU where the patients are elderly, in need of transplant, on dialysis, etc. You try to support each other but when the stats or mortality start to slide downhill, you turn grim and begin to keep score.

That’s the reason why I went on social media appealing for prayers to friends and strangers because that to me is the most powerful option: to storm the heavens and “knock, knock, knock on Heaven’s door” through intercessory prayers. Countless times this has worked because as the Bible teaches us, “the prayers of a righteous person achieves much.”

After expressing great faith and confidence in God’s mercy, I have to confess that often, our great faith for others fall short or run out for us. By this I mean that while we are hoping and praying for others, many of us often end up in a deep funk, saddened by the circumstance or fretful about the way things are. We surrender all to God but we worry. Perhaps that is what being human is all about. I guess the stress showed one way or another because a very dear friend living all the way in Tennessee, USA sent me a message on FB that turned on the lights and made me realize things will turn out for good. Here is what she wrote:

“I worked for 7 years in a medical Intensive Care Unit. Now that things are looking up, be reminded that Intensive Care is the level of attention, care or support your friend needs and not how close he is to the grave, OK. It can be terrifying from the outside I know. I will keep him in prayer.”

I am comforted by both facts and encouragement, which is why I decided to share this. Many friends have family in hospitals, in ICUs, even waiting in ambulances. It’s a war and history teaches us that some of the real heroes are not necessarily in the frontlines, whether battle fields or hospitals. Many heroes are those who help us keep our sanity and self-control when everyone around us is losing theirs. Many heroes are those who step in when we are paralyzed or knocked down and unable to keep our head above the waters of adversity. Many heroes are those nut jobs that risk our wrath by trying to amuse or distract us in these dark times.

But the biggest hero has to be the one that tells us “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is the one that reminds us that our help comes from the Lord; he is the one who tells us to look to the hills and see the thousands that are for us. He is God.

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