Emergency Medicine physician, Andrew Southard, describes how the Emergency Department at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center routinely is overwhelmed with patients sick from COVID-19, in addition to the usual volume they see daily. Emergency rooms were filled with inpatients. Heart attack and stroke victims stacked up on gurneys in the hallways. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Fatigued from working extra shifts, St. Alphonsus Emergency Department Physician's Assistant Jared O'Conner wearily dictates the medical record of a patient recently seen. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Fatigued from the extra workload, Christa Botros, who works as a scribe in the St. Alphonsus Emergency Department while studying health sciences at the College of Western Idaho, enters patient data into the electronic medical record system. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Dr. Carolyn McFarlane, Medical Director for the Hospitalist Service at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, emotionally recounts memories of several preventable deaths in young, healthy people with COVID-19 over the past few weeks. She said her frustration was that these deaths, which often left behind families with small children, were almost all in non-vaccinated patients. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Dr. Meghan McInerney, Director of the ICU at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, learns of yet another COVID-19 patient whose condition is deteriorating and will require intubation. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
A young man afflicted with COVID-19 in the ICU at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center talks with his family via an iPad one last time as health care workers prepare to intubate him. The window slats remain open for observation. His deteriorating vital signs and other parameters meant it was time to place him on a ventilator, news of which cast a pall of despair among those caring for him. Only half of intubated COVID-19 patients leave the hospital alive. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Dr. Meghan McInerney, Director of the ICU at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, and Devan Hromcik, RN, embrace out of mutual respect and support outside of the room of a COVID-19 patient. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd
Physicians and other medical personnel work to remove the endotracheal (breathing) tube and insert a permanent tracheostomy in a COVID-19 patient who survived the acute illness but whose lungs were so badly damaged by the illness that he cannot live without a ventilator. This was done in preparation for transfer to a Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTAC), where he is expected to die. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. © 2021 Timothy Floyd
A random, rotating staff announcement, that blocks out patient information as required by HIPPA, lands on the home screen of a monitor in the ICU of St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho during the height of the Delta wave of COVID-19. September 16, 2021. Boise, Idaho, USA. ©2021 Timothy Floyd