Respiratory therapist Christina Bumbacca said she and others at El Camino are constantly monitoring patients to see what minimal oxygen treatment is needed while keeping blood oxygen levels healthy, including bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines that do not require intubation. Not everyone needs a ventilator, she said. We try modalities that are less invasive first so we can try to protect their lungs and their airways.
As for possible exposure to the virus, Hudson said she isn t too worried. There s no shortage of protective equipment, nearly all of the hospital staff have received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and everyone seems to be doing the best they can with what they have.
What s it like to get the COVID-19 vaccine? I watched to find out
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Kaiser Doctor Allison Friedenberg (left) pumps her fist after receiving a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shot from Nurse Scott Keech at Kaiser San Francisco hospital on December 17, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Kaiser Permanente gave the first of nine Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to frontline workers at the Kaiser San Francisco hospital.Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE
When Dr. Allison Friedenberg was asked by friends if she would get the COVID-19 vaccine, she was mystified they would even ask the question. Are you crazy? Friedenberg said of her response to her friends, some who were implying the vaccine was new and unsafe. When you see people dying, and then there’s something you can get to stop it, of course, I’m going to get it.