Posted on 05/25/2003 3:31:42 PM PDT by I_Love_My_Husband
Edited on 05/26/2003 7:06:24 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Here here. Trust nothing you hear and only half of what you see.
To: Judith AnneLater on the same thread, our hero Astraea seems to have had a bit of bad luck. No longer is she just seeing this, she is living it!Judith
There are scores of SARS-like illnesses in Califoria alone, I found out in talking to Astraea Kelly for an hour, a 20 yr. respiratory therapist at a major hospital in Northern California. As you read this, several nationally known papers are working on this explosive story. I have a reporter friend looking into this unbelievable story. May break any day now. Astraea told me that she is ready to hold a press conference. She ask for public demand on certain health officials to take tougher & quicker actions before more innocent people get infected with SARS-like diseases & die. Here are the facts in digest form. It will fill pages.
1. In this one hospital where she worked, she has in her 8 hour shift witnessed at least 68 patients having SARS-like symptoms (high fever, coughing, pneumonia, diarrhea) in the last 4 weeks. There are 54 other respiratory therapists in this one hospital. Multiply that & do the math. This hospital has only reported 3 cases of probable SARS to the authority. If this is not cover-up or underreporting, then what is it? It is public information to ask Sacramento's public health department for the statistics of deaths in each hospital.
2. She know of 20 who have died in 4 weeks. There are no doubt many more in other 2 shifts. She knows of more. Some of the patients were Asian. They have not tracked who have visited these patients before they died. Where have medical staffs gone on vacation recently?
To this date, none of the dead had an autopsy done! Where is the coroner on this? There needs to be media & public pressure on them to get their act together. How many more must died before they will perform an autopsy!
3. The medical staffs have talked among themselves. They are worried about their safety & felt they were not protected enough by the hospital. Astraea is their pointman & sort of spokesman. She should be commended for her courage.
4. She has already reported this to CDC with no response yet! You would think CDC is on top of things after the outbreaks elsewhere. CDC in Atlanta need to adopt a stricter policy to isolate all patients with SARS-like symptoms whether they have traveled to high-risk area or not. We don't have a reliable test yet of SARS. She has jeopardized her job by having reported this to the Ca. liscensing board...Dr. Rosenburg and Dr. Derby, state infectious disease physicians, examined the hospital's charts from May 2 - May 6 and found 12 deathsin 4 days. They showed a pattern of concern. Two were of special concern and reviewed carefully.
5. As to the hospital's latest Public relations official response , "It's a rumor started by one individual..." Could it be if you can't destroy the message, then destroy the messanger? She thinks the hospital is scared to death about their liability, potential lawsuit, and loss of business...
6. This therapist is sick after caring for these patients. She has SARS-like symptoms.
In case you think, won't this cause a panic? It might. However, if the bureaucracy is dragging its feet & not telling the full information, jeapardizing the public, the patients that get transfered around to & from this hospital, then many more will die needlessly. Let us Weigh the pros & cons. Sometimes, officials WILL NOT ACT swiftly unless you put their feet to the fire. I have reason to believe this hospital is not alone in America. Did you read of 2 deaths in a Millbrae(Ca.) convalescent home this past week with similar symptoms, diarrhea, viral cases?
Have you ever wondered why SARS patients are dying in Asia, Toronto & none have died in America even though we have scores of "probable cases". Could it possibly be that a lot a REAL SARS cases have been categorized SARS-like or non-SARS to prevent panic perhaps or just being over-confident?
Food for thought. Talk about cover-up in China, i think human nature & government's response is universal.
Have we really learned from the painful lessons from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong. You cannot act too fast when it comes to a highly contagious disease.
5 posted on 05/19/2003 10:52 AM EDT by Watchman123
To: ririHas anyone of you bothered to call up the Sacramento Health dept. like I have? I did not take kelly's word for it. Let me tell you what I found out. A woman representative there by name of Leah (works under Ken August, the director)told me it has launched an investigation of this hospital in Solano County recently. Now tell me unless there is real call for concern, do you think they would waste time & money going to the hospital to investigate? They have not finished the investigation yet. It will going on "for another 2-3 weeks", that so far "there appears to be no infectious process going on" (She clarified to me ie. they did not find the pneomonia-type illness spreading to others in the hospital). Now you tell me if there apparently were no SARS-like illnesses and no truth to any alleged cover-up, why would this take 2-3 more weeks? You guys, think! Don't just shoot & overreact because of that woman. You already have a bias because she said "there is a problem, admit it.
My question is then how did Kelly and 4 other medical staffs get sick with the same SARS-like symptoms? From the patient(s)!I confirm from the hospital several days ago that Kelly was not working, that she has been sick, a FACT.
I asked her how many autopsies were done? She does not even know. What kind of investigation is that? Let me stress without autopsy showing attack on lungs..., one can't be sure whether it REALLY is SARS or not.
The press representative office for Ca. public health dept. is 916-657-3064. How about you call & confirm that this is what I discovered?
I asked what kind of virus the patients there have at XX hospital? She has no answer. I also sense she is not telling me something they know. I told Leah," I know that that hospital has had at least 68 patients with SARS-like symptoms and 20 deaths, is that not a high number, consider the flu / pneumonia season is over back in March? No real reply. She never disputed my figure of 20 deaths. More later tonight about my discovery of how many more people died in that county in April. A big jump! Nuff said for now.
65 posted on 05/19/2003 11:59 PM EDT by Watchman123
To: TBall
The coroner's office in that county (where the hospital is located) told me today that there were 97 total deaths in February, 111 in March but jumped to 130 in April (20 died of natural cause including disease). Now one of you skeptic call up this number & post a comment here to show I did my homework. Tel. 707-421-7500. Talk to the secretary Sheila there.
Also, have you ever called that hospital & got a clear hunch that they are covering up something? I did. I don't wish to name that hospital to this day. My sincere desire is NOT to cause a panic. I care about public health & I don't wish to see someday we all wearing masks on the streets! When I told the manager last week," I know you must have a health crises going on there. I know that Kelly is sick with SARSlike symptoms. You guys are probably so scared you don't know how to handle this (to tell or not to tell). He was so nervous that he repeatedly said," I am sorry. I can't comment on this. I am not allowed to" Think again. If there is no coverup & no SARS-like illnesses, why didn't he just come out & say "It's a lot of baloney. It is not true...." ? We can usually tell if someone is lying or hiding something.
The hospital’s PR spokesman still has not returned my inquiry.
68 posted on 05/20/2003 12:40 AM EDT by Watchman123
Thanks, AM
Your tagline earlier was sweet:
That Kelly dame is walking on the backs of victims of this epidemic. Very bad form.
This is a serious report of patterns Of SARS-Like Illness at a major Northern CA Hospital from a respiratory therapist who work there. I believe it is true. I just finished calling this hospital in the XXX, and I can tell the hospital is not telling. One of the managers replied when I told him I suspect they have a crises of SARS-like illnesses,” Sorry. We cannot say anything about it. It is confidential. “ I could tell he was so nervous when I asked questions. When I mentioned the name of this medical staff (I confirmed from the respiratory department that she does work there) and that I have read her plea for help as she is not allowed to say anything, his response is,” I can’t say anything. Call the public relations.” I did already and they are not taking any phone calls.How and why this 'conservative' guy was getting first hand information from this anarchist activist is an open question.This therapist is sick with SARS-like symptoms & cannot work today. She reports that she recall having treated many patients with SARS-like symptoms (high fever, breathing problem, some diarrhea…) and that they are exhausted.
She says that the hospital has not always been following quarantine procedures from the start. She reports some 20 patients with ‘Atypical pneumonia” having died already in the last 4 weeks. She wrote,” I have never seen a pneumonia season like this in 20 years in the field. It is a very late season for flu. We usually end our flu season in March.”
As a concerned citizen with medical knowledge, I have alreaded faxed & emailed to all major media in that whole area and you might hear this news any day. I hope they will investigate & tell the truth carefully. I might identify the hospital & city name any hour i have confirmation from any reporters I have contact with. I recently wrote another article posted here on "Why America maybe over-confident on SARS. This developement underscore that concern. I have heard that there are more one one hospitals in Northern California which have these SARS-like cases, but are keeping it under wrap.
Below is the testimony of Astraea Kelly dated 5/13/03. It is scary. It sounds very authentic, does it to you?:
I am a respiratory therapist (20 years in the field) and I have been working for the past 30 days, almost exclusively, with our "atypical" pneumonia patients. Ninety to ninety-five percent of the patients I have had since March 9th on my documentation records, have had the following patterns of presentation and outcomes:
Sudden Shortness of Breath, fevers of 100.4 to 102.2 documentable. Pneumonia with ARDS developing in most. Many have gone into liver and kidney failures, have pleural effusions or cardiac effusions, have had unknown etiology of sepsis arising more often in the last 2 weeks and have needed ventilator support (both invasive and non invasive) for hypoxia.
Some of my staff members say the pattern was visible to them in ICU as long as 6 weeks ago. I was aware of it 4 weeks to 5 weeks ago. At first the patients presented with a viral pneumonia pattern. Their WBC were low 4,000 to 2,000. We started seeing adults with RSV in their sputums. Those were placed in isolation, but NOTnecessarily negative pressure isolation, immediately and our hospital staff was exposed to them without isolation while diagnosis and sputums were made and gathered. Then we saw a bacterial presentation coming. The bacterial pneumonias were frequently gram negative rods, but not pseudomonas. Some were Maxilla pneumonia in the sputum. There were no Influenza A or B in the sputums. RBC were all over the board on the patients from high to low and we had clotting factors lowered. ABG's showed mostly metabolic acidosis with hypoxia of moderate to severe in the ICU cases.
At first the patients were able to ambulate in for care, then they came Code 2, then in last three weeks many are coming respiratory or full arrest and intubated in the ER or transferred from other facilities after arrest in ER. The ARDS patterns develop quickly, within 8-14 hours. The Xrays are nodule in patterns and grainy. Then we had a rash of intestinal bleeding developing the patterns. Then we had intestinal necrosis. Many of our patients started going into pulmonary edema or liver failure on the surgery tables. Our mortality rate has become very high now with these patients. We are needing more tracheotomies done. They require paralyzing agents on the ventilators and large amounts of morphine for sedation or we can't control their high respiratory rates. Sometimes up to 20mg bolus to sedate.
At first we were weaning successfully in high numbers and only losing, by my estimate, of 4-6 percent of the mechanically ventilated patients. Then it got longer to wean, our success to death ratio started going 50/50. It may be worse now. Then our weaned and improving patients started to rapidly deteriorate and die after we thought they were doing better and had transferred some ICU patients to TCU and floor care. They started returning within 8-12 hours in arrest suddenly. We have lost 20 patients in the last 30 days on one shift alone, that we can track as respiratory therapists trying to watch our patterns. We have lost count of the total deaths in one month. It has become VERY disturbing. I have never seen a pneumonia season like this in 20 years in the field. It is a very late season for flu. We usually end our flu season in March, not increase it.
We do have abnormally high amounts of rain and wet weather this year in our area. However, we are not seeing yeast or asprigillias in the sputums or "balls or fluff" on Xray. Our physicians have ruled all of these patients as NOT SARS. Most were not in any isolation until just recently as mortality increased and we then moved to more contact isolation ....usually with the diarrhea patients. Those showed a pattern of C Diff. in the stools, but not all of them.
Our nurses and respiratory therapists(especially) have reported feelingvery abnormally tired after working with these patients. It is difficult and exhausting in 8 hours and many of us have cut our extra hours or overtime because we just don't feel that well ourselves after a shift. At first, the patients were older in their 60-80's. Then they got younger and now we have had a teenager and someone in their 20's severely ill. They were compromised with other illnesses underlying. It looks like whatever organ was weak to begin with, was the cause of death or ultimate failure. HIV did the worst. TB history was also a high mortality. Cancers were hit hard, even with a 5 year free of cancer history. We had alot of people with history of chronic fatigue syndrome and muscular sclerosis. Cardiac patients usually died. We started having recently DIC in patients with unknown origin sepsis. We have had several nights in the last two weeks where we are losing 3 or 4 ICU patients per 8 shift at a time with this same pattern.
Our hospital does have suspected SARS from their criteria, of outside of the US travel. It has only been in the last week that we have opened that isolation criteria up to the U.S. for SARS diagnosis without KNOWN contact with a SARS patient or a health care worker directly inside an isolation room becoming sick. This has ignored secretion spreads possible.
I am going to forward my personal numbers of patients that I worked with that had this SARS-LIKE, but non SARS diagnosed pattern that I have my notes for. Symptoms of above description "odd pattern"
58 since March 9th (these are just mine). This is far from all the patients that I have seen with this, but those I can verify by record and name if needed. I would call them "SARS-LIKE." We only have 3 SARS suspects listed in XXX county, although our SARS isolation rooms have been quit active.......so I don't who is in there taking up the space. I personally know of 20 deaths in the last 30 days of this pattern. We have NO deaths listed anywhere in the U.S. as SARS deaths. We have a journalist who is working with 4 other health care workers reporting the same patterns in their patients in the XXX Area. They are unknown to me and I to them.
I don't know which hospitals they are from; they wish to remain non disclosed. One is working in a hospital that has children as patients and says that their mortality is matching. They have also lost 20 patients MANY who are children to this same pattern in the last month. I can not personally confirm that report ..but I can refer you to the journalist who has that report to them and is holding the health care worker as a confidential source at this time.
I am afraid I have also gotten sick with the pattern and become document on this Saturday as a "confidential" diagnosis ...confidential even to me. I was not given my diagnosis, it is listed only by screening physician name. And I was required to sign that I had a diagnosis, but that was it....."screening physician name". My symptoms were diarrhea for 3 days, severe right lower quadrant abdominal pain, stools more than 7 times a day for 3 days, fever (not shown to me at the clinic) but 100 degrees during the day and up to 101 at night for a day and a half, (now normal). Hypertension of BP 149/89 sitting and 169/98 immediately standing. Thready pulse. And mild hypoxia by pulse oximetry of 90 to 87 percent sat at rest. and 93 percent while standing.
My normal saturation is 98 percent. My peak flows were only 250l/min at my best effort........I have been 550l/min regularly...so that's half. My lungs were dry ..no sign of pneumonia on auscultation. I had a mostly dry hacking cough and abnormally more frequent sneezing times a week with occasional white thick sputum. No labs or Xrays were taken in my screening. My ears and throat were checked.......but I do not know what was seen by the physician.
So it appears to be a "clinical" diagnosis of "confidential" without supporting labs. I was referred to follow up with my regular physician and told told the symptoms of distress were usually lasting 3 days to a week. I was not instructed to self quarantine, but I have tried to do so anyway. My travel history was taken and I was questioned on who I live with (a non-issue) who would have had these symptoms. The only people who have had them that I have been in contact with, have been my patients.
I hope this is helpful to you.
The demographics of the patients were that they were mostly defense contractors or retired, engineers, chemical engineers, veterans (retired) or their spouses. Not all ..but the majority of the patients fit this social/working class group.
One was an embassy diplomat, and was one was a scientist in defense. One was an RN, but she was on disability and had recent surgery and was in the outpatient clinics often. No doctors that I am aware of. No staff members dying that I am aware of. I don't know if any other of our staff members have had a "confidential" diagnosis or not for this symptom pattern. For 2 weeks in March and early April all of our ICU physicians were not present for the whole weekend and took calls at home only. I suspected they had placed themselves in a home quarantine situation, but I have no confirmation of that.
We seem to be abnormally reluctant to discuss from physician to staff that we have ANY pattern and the physicians or administration or managers have been most unhappy when I or any other staff attempts to broach this subject with them.
1 posted on 05/16/2003 5:59 PM EDT by Watchman123
Ouch, I am only 15 miles from Vallejo.
Further, if we let every crackpot run free so as to be debunked, the signal to noise ratio here would plummet.
Thanks, AM
That was one of my biggest questions the first time I saw this posted! How was she a "close friend" of this guy? I don't find myself hanging with too many lefties, let alone radical anarchist anti-war-march-leading union organizers.
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