Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsKathyrn Stewart, a COVID-19 ICU nurse at Rose Medical Center, prepares to check on a patient’s kidney functions, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020.
More than a quarter of a million Americans have died due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. In Colorado, as of Friday evening, there have been 188,566 cases and 2,745 deaths.
At the Rose Medical Center's intensive care unit in Denver, patients in critical condition are cared for around the clock by a small group of doctors, nurses and technicians.
Through glass walls and doors, I count eight patients. Two rooms are unoccupied. In most of the filled rooms, there is no movement. Some of the patients are in medically induced paralysis and comas because they are on ventilators. Others lie motionless with masks on their faces. One is sitting in a chair. Some have been there for weeks.
All live connected to small forests of machines, monitors, cables and hoses that deliver life-saving medications and data.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsThe COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020.
None of these patients can have visitors; not on the floor, not peering through the glass windows, and certainly not at bedside. The only movement in the hallway and rooms comes from caregivers, who incessantly peel off and replace layers of plastic gowns, gloves, masks and face shields.
Like similar units all over the state and country, the Rose COVID-19 ICU is a place few people other than patients and caregivers will ever see.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsMonica Wininger is the director of clinical care at Rose Medical Center’s intensive care unit, and has about 22 years of experience in nursing. She supervises care, manages the department, and has about 45 staff reporting to her.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsKathyrn Stewart has been a nurse for 2 and a half years and worked in Austin, Texas, before coming to Rose in September. She's worked on the COVID-19 unit since then.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAnna Hoppe is an RN at the Rose Medical Center COVID-19 intensive care unit. By sometimes peering through a glass wall to check on a patient, she avoids having to put on personal protective gear and enter the room -- saving the PPE for more crucial room entries, and saving time. Hoppe has been a nurse for 7 years, joining Rose in 2019. She has been working on the COVID unit since the start of the pandemic.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsStewart, left, and respiratory therapist Joe Fitch look through the glass wall of a patient's room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsNurses at Rose Medical Center’s COVID 19 intensive care unit pull on gowns, gloves, face masks and shields, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsStewart, in full PPE, prepares to check on a patient’s kidney functions. The rooms are equipped with special heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to meet ICU and COVID-level of care requirements.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAll of the state's virus infection numbers have climbed sharply since Labor Day, and have prompted cities, counties and school districts to begin re-implementing strict public health measures. Gov. Polis is concerned about hospital capacity and has issued an executive order to set up a process for hospitals should they begin running out of beds.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRespiratory therapist Joe Fitch puts on full personal protective equipment as he gets ready to enter a patient's room at the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center. As, doctors, nurses and technicians move from room to room, they peel all this PPE off, throw it away in special containers, then repeat the process with fresh gear for the next room.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRespiratory therapist in Joe Fitch. Donning and doffing PPE and following all the infection prevention precautions on the COVID-19 ICU adds an additional layer to what is already a complex routine of caring for ICU patients.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA nurse prepares a patient's medication. Rose is part of the HealthONE system, where the average length of stay for all COVID patients (ICU and non-ICU) has decreased from nearly 12 days during the spring peak to about 5.8 days now.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAfter peeling off her PPE gown and gloves and leaving them in a special container, Stewart leaves a patient’s room.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRecently used face shields in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020. Some personal protective equipment are cleaned and sterilized for re-use.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsNurses make notes on glass walls and doors in the ICU as a way to communicate with each other inside and outside patients' rooms.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsFresh blankets for a patient in the COVID-19 intensive care unit.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsJeff Hackworth, a cardiac sonographer, prepares to enter a patient’s room in the COVID0-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center in Denver, where he will perform a heart ultrasound on a man in a medically induced paralysis and coma.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsCleaning down workspaces in the4 COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center, Denver, Nov. 13, 2020.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Rose Medical Center awaits another patient. There are 10 rooms in the unit, and a hospital spokesman says the capacity remains stable and Rose hasn't needed to transition any other areas of the hospital to ICU status. As part of the HealthONE system, Rose has access to more resources, including other hospitals, if Rose is faced with a significant surge.
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