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New York City close to exceeding hospital capacity 5:23
New York (CNN) - At Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in New York, the ICU is full, patient beds line the hallways of the emergency room, and the morgue is overflowing.
Covid-19, said Dr. Arabia Mollette, has turned the Brooklyn-based hospital into "a war zone."
"A medical war zone," Mollette, a Brookdale Hospital emergency room physician, told CNN. "Every day I come, what I see on a daily basis is pain, despair, suffering and disparities in medical care."
This is the reality for many New York hospitals, which have become the epicenter of the American coronavirus outbreak. As of Monday morning, there were more than 66,000 confirmed cases in the state, and at least 1,218 deaths, according to CNN's count of cases in the United States.
Brookdale Hospital granted CNN unusual access Sunday to see the fight of health workers against covid-19. The hospital is located in Brownsville, one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. The Brooklyn district is one of the most affected by the virus, according to data from the city.
Plastic curtains separate an area of the hospital that is used to treat coronavirus patients.
Hospital employees said they want people to understand how dire the situation is for healthcare workers and how the hospital needs more federal resources and help from the public to continue fighting the coronavirus.
"The hope we have is that if people are more socially responsible and stay home and do what they can to flatten this curve, it will help ease the pressure in the emergency room," Mollette said.
Patient overflow, insufficient resources
Brookdale Hospital, which began treating covid-19 patients in early March, said it now has more than 100 patients who tested positive for the virus and an additional 78 patients are hospitalized while awaiting results. As of Sunday, at least 20 patients had died after contracting the virus.
The hospital serves more than 100,000 patients annually and has a capacity of about 300 people at any given time, Khari Edwards, the hospital's vice president of external affairs, told CNN.
But with coronavirus cases increasing rapidly, there has been an influx of patients.
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Mollette said the hospital has already started opening floors that have not been used for years to make room for more patient beds. The hospital also converted its pediatric emergency department into an isolation area for covid-19, it added.
To separate the space from other wings of the hospital, healthcare workers hung plastic curtains on the walls and used masking tape to prevent them from falling.
"I can say that every corner, every part of the hallway, every room, every space has been filled to the max with our patients," Mollette said.
Inside the emergency room, a cacophony of coughs filled the room as a nurse walked through rows of full beds to give juice to a patient.
Meanwhile, the ICU is quieter, only the cooing beeping of machines, including fans, resonates.
"Wash your hands" signs hang on the doors of patients' rooms, reminding those who enter to do the task most recommended by health officials amid the pandemic.
As is the case with many other hospitals across the country, Brookdale Hospital struggles to keep up with the demand for resources as more patients come in.
"We need gowns, we need gloves, we need masks, we need more respirators (fans)," Mollette said. "We need more medical space. We also need psychological support. It is not easy to come here when you know what you are preparing to face. ”
President Donald Trump previously downplayed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's request for 30,000 more fans for the state.
"I don't think you need 40,000 or 30,000 fans," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an interview last week.
But Dr. Amy Plasencia, chief medical resident at Brookdale Hospital, said the hospital has "a critical shortage of ventilators relative to the numbers we're seeing."
Ventilators are used in severe cases by covid-19 to help breathe for patients who struggle to do it alone, Plasencia added.
Once patients are connected to the machines, they generally need to continue using them for a week or two or more, he emphasized.
"Certainly, no doctor wants to be put in a position where they have to classify treatments based on the availability of resources," he said. "But in this national crisis, it is where we are headed."
Brookdale Hospital, like others in the state, is so short of respirators that it has begun to look for ways to reuse older models that have been out of use and to adapt anesthesia machines to use them as ventilators, Plasencia added.
The hospital morgue is also overflowing.
Edwards said the morgue can generally house about 20 people, and that the hospital has already "exceeded that" number.
The hospital now has a state-provided refrigerated truck to help with the overflow of bodies.
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"What is more terrifying is that you have family members who are unable to come and collect as they normally do while losing a family member," said Edwards. "Funeral homes are flooded."
Health workers have already begun preparing additional beds in anticipation of the flow of patients in the coming weeks, Edwards added.
Hospital workers stay away from their own families to protect them
The use of protective equipment is now considered essential in most hospitals to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
At Brookdale Hospital on Sunday, almost all health care employees, including janitors, food preparation workers, nurses and doctors, made sure to protect themselves by covering themselves from head to toe while working in patient areas.
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The standard “uniform” for any healthcare worker who faces a full hospital includes gloves, face shields, surgical masks, lab coats, and hair and shoe covers.
With the equipment on, some say they feel safe, at least for now.
Laboratory technician Andrei Legoun, who started his shift around 7:30 a.m., is among the hospital employees on the front line every day.
Right now, he's focused on turning dozens of covid-19 tests at the same time in the hospital.
Legoun said it can take three to six hours to get the test results.
The hospital reported that they now offer a new rapid test, which Legoun said can do up to 300 tests in one day. Legoun commented that he hopes they will eventually be able to complete up to 500 tests per day.
Legoun said that he is not nervous about exposure to the virus: the samples he gets are placed in a water bath to deactivate the virus before analyzing them. In addition, he added: "I have a mask."
Still, Legoun said he has spent the past two months away from his family and has avoided seeing someone face to face, including his daughter and girlfriend.
"In case I'm a carrier for some reason, I don't want to pass it on," he emphasized.
Mollette hasn't seen her family in months, either, and she sleeps in a different room than her fiancé to protect him.
READ: Coronavirus patients begin to overflow US hospitals
"I'm going to be honest with you: I really don't sleep that well at night," Mollette said. “I am concerned for my family, I am concerned for my safety. I am concerned about my colleagues. I am concerned with how it will be the next time I come. I am concerned if a family member is coming and will be patient as well. ”
For Plasencia, protecting fellow hospital employees, particularly residents and interns, is of equal importance, as they collectively continue to work on the front lines of the crisis.
"We are trying to maintain morale," he said. "And certainly in this outbreak we are providing emotional support, but it is a very difficult time for health care."
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