USNS Comfort in the news

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DrMetal

DrMetal

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The 1,000-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to Aid New York. It Has 20 Patients.

Well, you could see this story coming down 5th ave in a big yellow cab.

So if they're not treating COVID, what are they doing, treating the indigenous population of NYC? How medically experienced is the crew of the Comfort? (I'm sorry, if they're from the local big MTF, they're definitely not used to seeing the level of acuity/volume that is NYC).
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DrMetal said:
The 1,000-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to Aid New York. It Has 20 Patients.

Well, you could see this story coming down 5th ave in a big yellow cab.

So if they're not treating COVID, what are they doing, treating the indigenous population of NYC? How medically experienced is the crew of the Comfort? (I'm sorry, if they're from the local big MTF, they're definitely not used to seeing the level of acuity/volume that is NYC).
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I think the idea was to treat all the non-COVID stuff so that the hospitals could focus on that.
 
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I mean that was the idea but it seems like the response was pretty predictable that the hospital systems would say that those patients aren't the ones overwhelming their systems.
 
SirGecko said:
I mean that was the idea but it seems like the response was pretty predictable that the hospital systems would say that those patient's aren't the ones overwhelming their systems.
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Well it's not even just that. It's also that the hospital has to transfer the patients, and apparently they will only take certain conditions. Kind of defeats the purpose. Seems weird because that hasn't been my experience with this kind of thing through the Navy. Maybe they're just afraid to get the 'rona onboard another ship.
 
I haven’t posted here in years. This was so predictable. I feel sorry for the staff onboard.

for the dignity of the docs onboard, I hope they don’t release the list of 49 conditions that exclude patients. CAD? We don’t have a cath lab. Morbid obesity? Won’t fit on our beds. CHF? What if they decompensate? Pregnant? Don’t even go there.

military medicine did an extraordinary job in Iraq and Afghanistan. But even in those conflicts the hospital ships had no role. Just scrap them, please.
 
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Trajan said:
I haven’t posted here in years. This was so predictable. I feel sorry for the staff onboard.

for the dignity of the docs onboard, I hope they don’t release the list of 49 conditions that exclude patients. CAD? We don’t have a cath lab. Morbid obesity? Won’t fit on our beds. CHF? What if they decompensate? Pregnant? Don’t even go there.
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+bad GI bleeds, + HIV/HCV, +bad COPD....hell the entire indigenous NYC population! I'd rather be treating COVID!
 
DrMetal said:
+bad GI bleeds, + HIV/HCV, +bad COPD....hell the entire indigenous NYC population! I'd rather be treating COVID!
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They don't want, you know, sick people.

There is the logistical issue of taking them to a ship from another facility. EMTs I have read, are being told to declare unresponsive arrests in the field and turn the bodies over to the NYPD and not transport the patient to the hospital, to avoid unnecessary exposures to the EMTs.
 
Since MERCY and COMFORT were launched, I wonder how many dollars were spent on them per life saved aboard.
 
AP18104475390183.jpg
 
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They should release what they will treat. Most non-COVID care will be done by the time a COVID test comes back. Then they have to get permission, arrange transfer to the ship, and find a non-excluded sx. it’s amazing any patients are on the ships. It was a PR stunt and those play better from the other side of the world
 
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If you’re gonna send in more physical beds, Army combat support hospital/field hospitals makes 1000 times more sense than the Navy sending a big ol ship.
 
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news.yahoo.com

Hospital ship USNS Comfort changes criteria for patients

The updated guidelines say that an asymptomatic patient does not need to have a negative coronavirus test. They will be isolated and tested on the ship.
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com

Pretty soon COMFORT will be in quarantine just like the worst cruise ships. Not for lack of trying. It's why a giant hospital ship is more trouble than it's worth, unless you are fighting a 20th Century World War.
 
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They should move staff off the ship and let it become a giant COVID ward. When it’s over, let it sit there empty for two weeks and then clean it.
 
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Gastrapathy said:
They should move staff off the ship and let it become a giant COVID ward. When it’s over, let it sit there empty for two weeks and then clean it.
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If it is empty, set up a CSH ashore with the staff in NYC. Move the ship to either NOLA or Chicago in anticipation of the next wave, and decide whether it is better to use the ship as a quarantine containment platform or as a non-quarantine overflow facility.

The overflow facility plan goes sideways with the appearance of even one case aboard the ship, as containment is nearly impossible, we are learning the hard way.

The Navy's "hospital ship" resource should be a first-line response of a well-stocked container ship with everything needed for say a 250 bed CSH ashore. Hospital ships should be a distant backup. Mercy and Comfort are more or less the Navy's Goodyear blimp for disasters.
 
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“Additionally, screening for care on the USNS Comfort will be modified and will now occur pier-side in an effort to reduce the backlog at some of the nearby New York hospitals. The screening effort for the USNS Comfort will no longer require a negative test, but each patient will still be screened by temperature and a short questionnaire.“

Shall we place friendly wagers on when Covid finds a receptive host amongst the crew?

www.defense.gov

DOD Expands Medical Support in New York City, New Orleans and Dallas

The Defense Department announced it is expanding its medical support for COVID-19 patients to additional locations in New York City, New Orleans and Dallas.
www.defense.gov
 
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Gastrapathy said:
They should move staff off the ship and let it become a giant COVID ward. When it’s over, let it sit there empty for two weeks and then clean it.
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Better yet, get the staff off and bring it down to AUTEC for submarine target practice.
 
Just put up a bunch of Army FSH units in the hot zones to take non-emergent cases and let the hospitals deal with the COVID 19 patients. I don't understand sending in floating petri dishes to just allow for 1 asymptomatic carrier to infect a whole ship.

The Navy would have been better off just filling ships full of needed supplies and then shuttling them from ship to shore as needed and using it as a holding area for supplies, but then that is not as good of a PR show........
 
There are no non-COVID patients. Milmed wanting to run to the rescue on their own terms is so typical. There’s a real crisis and they could help but that would require risk. The same kind of risk all the civilian healthcare workers are taking
 
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Gastrapathy said:
There are no non-COVID patients. Milmed wanting to run to the rescue on their own terms is so typical. There’s a real crisis and they could help but that would require risk. The same kind of risk all the civilian healthcare workers are taking
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My friend is on the Mercy. Apparently they are adapting to be able to accept more patients. Not sure of the details though.
 
Gastrapathy said:
There are no non-COVID patients. Milmed wanting to run to the rescue on their own terms is so typical. There’s a real crisis and they could help but that would require risk. The same kind of risk all the civilian healthcare workers are taking
Click to expand...

Exactly. COVID-19 will invade. It's inevitable. So dedicate the ship to treating COVID-19 patients. Do something useful --
 
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Took a couple days for you to tell us to shut up and color. The entirely predictable failure to deploy military medicine in a meaningful way IS newsworthy and appropriate for discussion here. The very premise that taking the “nonCOVID” patients in a hot zone was ever going to help flies in the face of the prior hot zones where all they treated was COVID for weeks. This is a PR stunt. Changing a single aspect of that policy doesn’t change that they showed up with no intention of doing the hard work.
 
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Monty Python said:
“Additionally, screening for care on the USNS Comfort will be modified and will now occur pier-side in an effort to reduce the backlog at some of the nearby New York hospitals. The screening effort for the USNS Comfort will no longer require a negative test, but each patient will still be screened by temperature and a short questionnaire.“

Shall we place friendly wagers on when Covid finds a receptive host amongst the crew?

www.defense.gov

DOD Expands Medical Support in New York City, New Orleans and Dallas

The Defense Department announced it is expanding its medical support for COVID-19 patients to additional locations in New York City, New Orleans and Dallas.
www.defense.gov
Click to expand...
Three days until first case is my bet
 
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DokterMom said:
Exactly. COVID-19 will invade. It's inevitable. So dedicate the ship to treating COVID-19 patients. Do something useful --
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The problem is that these ships aren't designed for treating those that are medically critically ill, nor are they ideal environments for preventing the spread of COVID to crew and other patients. The rooms are small, the halls cramped, basically you can't distance yourself. This would be the Diamond Princess all over again. The staff aren't trained or equipped for large-scale medical critical care of patients with infectious disease. Trying to treat COVID patients there will be a complete disaster, mark my words
 
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I don't want to debate the specific orders and roll out of the hospital ships. I will however point out that every overrun hospital in the world right now has worse distancing and higher viral load than the Diamond Princess or any ship for that matter.

For hard hit areas having additional space/resources/manning to treat patients on or off a ship is a good thing. Concern is berthing for the crew. Are tents on shore any better for distancing? Hotel rooms? Probably. More open air. Tough call. We don't know the details for security/etc.

Everyone is in a tough situation and doing their part to fight this thing. Agree with @DrMetal point about how the crew didn't ask for this media attention. Some volunteered to go, others didn't have that option. All are serving honorably and should be applauded.
 
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criticism of leadership is NEVER criticism of the front line. “supporting the troops” should not be used to justify support for bad decisions that they are left to implement.
 
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Gastrapathy said:
What was the actual maximum census that would have been supported when you were aboard MERCY?
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When I was aboard? 200-300 I’d wager.

But the capacity is definitely there. We had a skeleton crew consisting of mainly civilians. Crew berthing was largely empty. But the ship, when fully loaded with it’s full complement of crew, could handle what it’s advertised to handle. It’s truly something to behold.
 
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There were no patients on Comfort in 2005 in Mississippi either.
 
“1000 beds” implies you can care for 1000 inpatients and the real number is less than 300. It’s propaganda. 500 of the “beds” are for “limited care” which essentially means ambulatory patients (aka walking wounded) who do not need inpatient level nursing.

I’m still hopeful they will contribute but I absolutely believe putting a field hospital in the parking lot of big hotel or even on the pier and moving the crew inside would have been better. It just would have been less shiny.
 
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IlDestriero said:
Now Cuomo wants the Comfort to care for Covid patients. There it is.
I feel bad for the crew.
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Hmmm.
Is the ship equipped with the PPE and ventilators needed to do that job? Because if not, then that request might not work out for the best. I get the governor needs federal help and that he has had frustrations with the Administration getting the numbers of ventilators he anticipates needing, but hazarding the crew on the Comfort is not making the problem better.
 
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