NYC Anesthesia PPEs and transportation
Donation protected
Here at New York Presbyterian Hospital Columbia, we are at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the USA. There have been many amazing things happening here but one of them is the conversion of 24 operating rooms into intensive care units, named the OR-ICU. Everything about the creation of this unit is nothing short of a miracle, and it was done in just 60 hours to be able to accommodate the huge influx of patients requiring ventilators and ICU care.
These OR-ICUs are led by our Critical Care Anesthesiologists and staffed by anesthesia residents, surgery residents, CRNAs, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, technicians, and nurses. During this crisis, resident work regulations have been suspended. We work 12+ hour shifts taking care of the sickest patients in the hospital. More and more patients are requiring the specialized care that we are able to provide them.
We are currently in need of help with:
- PPEs (masks, eye goggles, face shields, gloves, gowns etc) for direct patient care for our OR-ICUs and emergency intubations
- Safe means of transportation for the team members. We are working 12+ hour shifts that require us to come to the hospital early AMs and leave late at night. Public transportation is now running less frequently, and it is not the safest option for us currently. Some of the residents have been verbally threatened/hearing even racial slurs. Taking uber/lyft/cab would be a better option for this reason.
As you can imagine, this can get very expensive, very fast. If you are able to donate to help us during these hectic times, we can spend more time taking care of the patients that need us so desperately.
All of the raised money will be used for transportation to and from work, and purchasing PPEs.
Quoting from one of our super amazing co-residents, Dr. Justin Genziano:
"It’s been a rough month. We are waiting for the tsunami in the dark, and the crash of the waves won’t be instantaneous but rather insidious. My field, anesthesiology, is positioned to take an early hit from this as we are exposed to the patients’ airways and are at risk for high viral exposure - which correlates to higher severity of the disease. We are already seeing this as our mentors are starting to become critically ill and we face the reality that we will absolutely lose some of our close colleagues and teachers. Yet, we are still doing the work. To quote Leslie Knope (quoting Teddy Roosevelt), “The best prize life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing.” And to further clarify the sentiment is the best Knope-tastic addition: “And I would add that what makes work worth doing is getting to do it with people you love.”
My co-residents, our faculty, and even our administration, have all shown remarkable nimbleness and resiliency. We’ve built extra ICU capacity by refurbishing two floors of operating rooms into miniature ICUs staffed by the anesthesia residents, faculty, and wonderful nurses recruited from throughout the hospital. In addition to our airway expertise, we are adept with critical care, so we are a natural resource for managing the many critical patients arriving every day.
Yes, we are quickly running out of ventilators, and Governor Cuomo has done an excellent job at portraying the urgency of the need. Until those materialize, we are a crafty bunch here at Columbia, and we have repurposed our anesthesia machines from across the hospital to be used as ventilators. Additionally, all that “vent-sharing” you’ve been hearing about in the news - that’s us. It hasn’t come to that just yet, but we are well-prepared in case it does.
Speaking of scarcity, we’ve resorted to crowd-sourcing for personal protective equipment - how we got here is a shame, but a conversation for another day. If you have any N95 masks, surgical grade masks, or eye-protection please let me know. This gear is essential in keeping us in the workforce and out of the ICU (on the side of the ventilator we’d rather not be).
One other thing you can do for us - STAY HOME. No one of any credibility is understating the severity of what’s happening. The only way we can manage this is to slow the spread. Otherwise, rather than managing patients on ventilators in hopes of recovery, we’ll be managing patients with pain medications and anesthetics in hopes of a humane death in the face of scarcity. This is the sobering reality."
Thank you so much for your support!
**this is not an official sanctioned NYP fundraiser**
These OR-ICUs are led by our Critical Care Anesthesiologists and staffed by anesthesia residents, surgery residents, CRNAs, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, technicians, and nurses. During this crisis, resident work regulations have been suspended. We work 12+ hour shifts taking care of the sickest patients in the hospital. More and more patients are requiring the specialized care that we are able to provide them.
We are currently in need of help with:
- PPEs (masks, eye goggles, face shields, gloves, gowns etc) for direct patient care for our OR-ICUs and emergency intubations
- Safe means of transportation for the team members. We are working 12+ hour shifts that require us to come to the hospital early AMs and leave late at night. Public transportation is now running less frequently, and it is not the safest option for us currently. Some of the residents have been verbally threatened/hearing even racial slurs. Taking uber/lyft/cab would be a better option for this reason.
As you can imagine, this can get very expensive, very fast. If you are able to donate to help us during these hectic times, we can spend more time taking care of the patients that need us so desperately.
All of the raised money will be used for transportation to and from work, and purchasing PPEs.
Quoting from one of our super amazing co-residents, Dr. Justin Genziano:
"It’s been a rough month. We are waiting for the tsunami in the dark, and the crash of the waves won’t be instantaneous but rather insidious. My field, anesthesiology, is positioned to take an early hit from this as we are exposed to the patients’ airways and are at risk for high viral exposure - which correlates to higher severity of the disease. We are already seeing this as our mentors are starting to become critically ill and we face the reality that we will absolutely lose some of our close colleagues and teachers. Yet, we are still doing the work. To quote Leslie Knope (quoting Teddy Roosevelt), “The best prize life has to offer is a chance to work hard at work worth doing.” And to further clarify the sentiment is the best Knope-tastic addition: “And I would add that what makes work worth doing is getting to do it with people you love.”
My co-residents, our faculty, and even our administration, have all shown remarkable nimbleness and resiliency. We’ve built extra ICU capacity by refurbishing two floors of operating rooms into miniature ICUs staffed by the anesthesia residents, faculty, and wonderful nurses recruited from throughout the hospital. In addition to our airway expertise, we are adept with critical care, so we are a natural resource for managing the many critical patients arriving every day.
Yes, we are quickly running out of ventilators, and Governor Cuomo has done an excellent job at portraying the urgency of the need. Until those materialize, we are a crafty bunch here at Columbia, and we have repurposed our anesthesia machines from across the hospital to be used as ventilators. Additionally, all that “vent-sharing” you’ve been hearing about in the news - that’s us. It hasn’t come to that just yet, but we are well-prepared in case it does.
Speaking of scarcity, we’ve resorted to crowd-sourcing for personal protective equipment - how we got here is a shame, but a conversation for another day. If you have any N95 masks, surgical grade masks, or eye-protection please let me know. This gear is essential in keeping us in the workforce and out of the ICU (on the side of the ventilator we’d rather not be).
One other thing you can do for us - STAY HOME. No one of any credibility is understating the severity of what’s happening. The only way we can manage this is to slow the spread. Otherwise, rather than managing patients on ventilators in hopes of recovery, we’ll be managing patients with pain medications and anesthetics in hopes of a humane death in the face of scarcity. This is the sobering reality."
Thank you so much for your support!
**this is not an official sanctioned NYP fundraiser**
Co-organizers (3)
An Kim
Organizer
New York, NY
Allen Friedman
Beneficiary
Diana Jin
Co-organizer
Vanessa Xu
Co-organizer