Shutterstock.com
Thursday, March 19, 2020 | 2 a.m.
In a small number of severe COVID-19 cases, a patient may be placed on a ventilator to supply oxygen if he or she is having difficulty breathing or has completely lost the ability to breathe on their own.
The average person breathes in and out a staggering 22,000 times a day without even thinking about it. But when you can’t, a ventilator might be your only solution. It’s important to note, a ventilator isn’t a treatment, it is critical life support.
What about smoking?
In case you need one more reason to quit smoking or vaping, coronavirus is it. The University of California San Francisco reports that people who smoke or vape generally experience much more severe consequences of the flu or other respiratory infections. An analysis of coronavirus deaths in China found that men are more likely to die than women, and that men are more likely to experience serious complications such a pneumonia. Some researchers speculate that this might be attributed to the fact that more men smoke in China than women do.
Ventilators work by getting fresh oxygen into the airways and ultimately into the lungs, while also removing toxic carbon dioxide from the lungs. This happens in a few steps.
First, a breathing tube must be placed into the patient’s windpipe. It may be inserted through the mouth or nose. This tube will serve as the passageway for air and oxygen to move from the ventilator into the lungs. One end of the tube is placed in the windpipe, while the other is attached to the ventilator.
Once connected, the ventilator uses pressure to blow a mixture of oxygen and air down the tube and into the lungs. Typically, the patient has the ability to breathe out on his or her own, but if that is not the case, the ventilator will exhale for the patient.
The ventilator can be scheduled to “breathe” for the patient a set number of times each minute, or it can be set so the patient can trigger the machine to deliver air. If the patient fails to trigger the machine after a set period of time, the ventilator will automatically blow air into the breathing tube.
When a patient gets to the point of needing a ventilator, it can be scary. Our bodies experience a suffocating or drowning feeling when they can’t get an optimal oxygen supply. A ventilator can give you this relief and help you breathe better while recovering from an illness—and for some, it may be the only way for them to have a fighting chance against it.
But do we have enough ventilators available for patients in need during this critical time?
A 2013 study published in the Cambridge University Press estimates that the U.S. has about 62,000 ventilators nationwide. The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) reports that there are an estimated 8,900 ventilation machines federally stockpiled for emergency supplies, to be distributed upon request. They also note that some hospitals retain older machines for emergency purposes, estimating that those could add an additional 98,738 ventilators to the U.S. supply. States may have their own stockpiles as well, and some modern anesthesia machines can act as ventilators. Including anesthesia machines capable of ventilating patients, the SCCM concludes that there might be more than 200,000 units across the country.
We weren’t able to locate a public health official who was able to provide a tally of the available ventilator capacity in Southern Nevada, but Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center confirms it has more than 150. The Nevada Current reports that UMC has 115 and MountainView Hospital has more than 50.
The SCCM report mentioned an American Hospital Association webinar that estimated 960,000 patients would require ventilatory support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ventilators can be rented from medical supply companies and borrowed between hospitals locally, and in other states if need be. If there’s a capacity surge at one hospital, another can help alleviate it if it’s not experiencing the same staffing and supply limitations.
The SCCM report also raises concerns about adequate staffing for critically ill patients in the event of surge capacity at hospitals. The best way we can prevent that as a community is by staying home and following CDC guidelines.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
