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Covid-19: The unadorned view of the corona intensive care unit in Tübingen

2021-02-27T20:25:36.719Z


The biggest fight of the corona pandemic takes place every day behind closed doors, in the intensive care units. A nurse from Tübingen wanted to make him visible. The result is photos that touch.


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When the second Corona wave reached its peak in winter, the photographer Tobias Wuntke went with his camera to the intensive care unit of the University Hospital Tübingen and documented what almost nobody else sees.

For four shifts he accompanied the nursing staff in their struggle for the life and health of the patients.

He captured everyday life on the ward in more than 700 pictures, unadorned.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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2/17

The idea for the project came from one of the nurses himself, Franziska Strasser.

She has been working in intensive care for almost 30 years.

Even during the first wave, many Covid sufferers were in the intensive care unit in Tübingen.

"The whole team was totally shaped by this time and these experiences," she says.

"I was shocked at how quickly everyone returned to normal in the summer and how quickly sympathy and solidarity among the population fell."

When the second wave was announced, she had the impulse to record the situation in the intensive care unit.

"These pictures are contemporary documents," says Strasser.

“This is a fight that was fought behind closed doors.

And it was clear to me: It had to be made public. "

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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Many Covid patients who are artificially ventilated lie on their stomachs overnight to relieve their lungs.

"In the morning we put out the sleeping pills and wait until the patients are reasonably awake," says Strasser.

Then two to three nurses help put her on the edge of the bed.

“It's an enormous effort,” says Strasser.

"It takes at least 40 minutes for the patient to sit and lie down again."

Hoses run on the man's back through which he is artificially fed and given various medications, among other things.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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4/17

Many of the care team were initially skeptical when they heard about the photo project.

"You asked who wanted to see that," says Strasser.

"I had the feeling the team was just so drained, they really didn't have a head for that."

However, the few who had been able to see the pictures so far reacted very concerned.

"Some stood in front of it and had tears in their eyes," says Strasser.

"Simply because you associate every picture with a story."

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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A nurse at the end of his service.

His face is marked by the traces of the protective mask.

"We all had such prints," says Strasser.

»The FFP3 masks are very tight and at some point you sweat under them.

Once you're in the patient's room and put on your protective clothing, you think twice about taking it off several times in one shift.

Actually, we usually all stay in the patient room for the entire shift and we also have our masks on for seven hours. "

Despite all the challenges, it is also important for the intensive care nurse to say: "It's an incredibly strenuous, but also incredibly beautiful job."

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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In the morning, a team turns the patients from the prone position to the supine position.

"This is an extremely dangerous moment because an infinite number of tubes wrap around the patient," says Strasser.

In addition, the seriously ill have to be separated from the surveillance monitors for a brief moment.

It is therefore important to work as quickly as possible.

"It's incredibly exhausting in terms of strength in this protective clothing," says Strasser.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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One of the patients who was in the intensive care unit in Tübingen at the beginning of the year was Walter Brummel.

The 56-year-old works as a manager in a large retail company with 120 employees.

On December 5th, Brummel had a hearing loss.

In the evening he drove to the hospital, where he was admitted and given IV fluids.

On the eighth day of his stay, the hospital developed into a corona hotspot.

Brummel also got infected.

"When I was told that I was Corona-positive, I still thought: This is stupid now, I work in retail, then I might not be able to take part in the Christmas business," he says.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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Brummel found out about his infection on Fridays, had a fever, chills and diarrhea on Tuesdays, after which his memory fades.

On December 23, he was transferred to Tübingen by helicopter, where the doctors connected him to an ECMO device.

His lungs fail so badly that artificial respiration is no longer sufficient.

In ECMO therapy, the blood is pumped outside the body into a heart-lung machine, which removes carbon dioxide and enriches it with oxygen.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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Many people from his circle of friends and acquaintances did not expect that it could hit him so badly, says Brummel.

Even he would not have thought that possible in the summer.

"Everyone we knew was more than horrified," he says.

"Quite a lot of people said: I thought it was more like a mild flu." Then he replied: Yes, at 80 or 90 percent it could be a mild flu.

However, there are also extreme cases like his.

"It could be everyone."

So far, the doctors have not been able to find any previous illnesses, apart from high blood pressure and tinnitus.

"The hearing loss probably affected the immune system to such an extent that Covid was able to lie on it," he speculates.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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The 56-year-old can hardly remember the time in the intensive care unit.

"I was virtually in a coma for three weeks and the fourth week was the greatest agony for me," he says.

Mobilizing on the edge of the bed was extremely exhausting.

“There are three nurses standing next to you, lifting you up, and you're constantly short of breath, even though you don't do anything yourself.

I was always happy when I could go back to bed. "

Brummel has been in rehab since the beginning of February, and he doesn't have much to do with the man in the photos.

"Given the circumstances, I'm doing relatively well," he says.

However, the 56-year-old lost 15 kilograms of muscle mass due to the long time he was lying there.

At first he could no longer walk, but now it works again, even without a walker.

Even so, it is still unclear how long he will have to stay in rehab.

“It can take months before I am more or less operational again,” he says.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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The Covid intensive care unit was set up in a separate area of ​​the hospital, away from the normal intensive care unit.

There is not enough space.

"We can hardly turn," says intensive care nurse Franziska Strasser.

"You get stuck everywhere, bump into something, there is a huge post between two patient places where you get bruises all the time because you can never get past them unhindered."

In addition, there is an enormous background noise, an effort, also for the patients.

"You can imagine that they never really relax during the day," says Strasser.

“But it's just like that.

We can not change it."

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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In addition to documenting this exceptional situation, the pictures also serve another important purpose for Strasser.

"They should also give comfort to the relatives who have lost someone with us," she says.

“I want them to see that we have taken good care of their loved ones.

We were there.

We may not be the relatives, but we are nurses who care about the patients. "

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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"The fate of this patient affected us all very much," says Strasser, looking at the photo.

In order to create closeness to relatives, the nurses hang personal pictures next to the beds.

"You kept reminding us that the patient in the picture is actually the patient and not the one who is now in bed and has been destroyed by Covid," says Strasser.

“The team fought so hard for this patient, for weeks, months.

Unfortunately we lost the fight. "

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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But there are also happy moments.

What cannot be seen directly in this picture: There is beer in the mug.

A colleague asked the patient if there was anything else she could do for him, says Strasser.

Then he replied: “I would love to have a beer.

We then looked at each other and really had to laugh a little, «says Strasser.

However, since the doctor had no objections, a student went to the university clinic to look for a beer.

"He liked it and was totally happy," says Strasser.

"That was a real highlight."

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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In addition to nursing staff, physiotherapists and occupational therapists also look after the seriously ill.

"The occupational therapist moves every joint, lets music play, and speaks a lot with the patient," says Strasser.

"The time that we intensive workers often lack can fill them well."

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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In his normal job, Wuntke photographs children and weddings.

In this case, his challenge was a completely different one: deciding which recordings can be hung in an open area at all.

"There are also some pictures that show more intense things," he says.

It was important to him to document the work as it always takes place.

"After I was there for a long time, I practically disappeared in the team and took photos from the background."

The recordings are exhibited in the Tübingen University Hospital.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

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The patients in the pictures are just a few of the very, very many.

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, around 76,000 people with Covid 19 have been treated in an intensive care unit in Germany alone, according to the Divi Intensive Care Register.

More than 21,000 of them have died.

At this moment, too, around 2,800 people with Covid-19 are fighting for their lives in an intensive care unit in Germany.

Photo: Tobias Wuntke / University Hospital Tübingen

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-02-27

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