These ‘corona nursing homes’ then become so-called ‘cohort departments’ where patients can be nursed in isolation. “They are large departments with a large capacity.” According to Berden, Liduina in Boxtel is used for this. This building is now a collective building for healthcare companies and is an old location of the Jeroen Bosch Hospital.
The emergency measure is necessary to accommodate the expected increase in the number of corona patients in the coming period. Berden speaks of a dire situation in which the national number of intensive care places will “perhaps not be enough”.
Berden is shocked by predictions
“We are shocked at the predictions,” said Berden, referring to the expected patient flow calculated using a calculation model. However, he does not want to name an exact number. “There are still some uncertain factors, so I want to be careful about giving figures. But it is clear: we have to do something. Otherwise, the capacity we currently have is insufficient. ”
In Brabant, hospitals have canceled non-emergency operations to use as much staff, resources and space as possible for corona patients. Operating theaters with ventilators are now being prepared for seriously ill people. With this, Berden hopes to increase the Brabant intensive care capacity to 300. Normally there are 120 beds available on the ICs.
Serious accident
Emergency care for people who have had, for example, a serious accident, a condition such as cancer or a cracked artery will continue. “We will then operate it”, emphasizes Berden, who is also chairman of the board of the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in Tilburg.
‘Incredible problem ‘
In addition to the potential shortage of intensive care capacity, Berden is concerned about the shortage of protective equipment for hospital staff. This includes mouth masks. According to Berden, ten thousand of these go through in hospitals in Brabant alone. “That is an insane problem. We have a supply of two, maybe three days. If this continues, it will lead to an unacceptable situation, ”he sounds the alarm. “We are working hard to get as much of it as possible, but it doesn’t really work.”
Moving corona patients
Brabant is at the forefront of receiving seriously ill people with corona patients in the intensive care units. In order to keep places available in this province, the hospitals have jointly started moving corona patients to hospitals elsewhere in the country. According to Berden, 40 people from both regular and intensive care units moved to hospitals outside the province on Thursday alone. “To Zwolle, for example, where there are far fewer corona infections,” says Berden.
Limit influx
In addition, in order to spare hospitals, it has been agreed that general practitioners and regular nursing homes look closely at the extent to which it sometimes makes sense to send a corona patient to the hospital. “The question is: will it add anything to the patient’s health in the future?”
He explains this on the basis of an example. Berden: “Suppose there is an 85-year-old who is sick and has to go to respiration because of the coronavirus. You need to take a good look at whether this patient has a good chance of ever getting off the ventilator. I know that GPs regularly make such assessments in their work. It is good to look at that, because you do it to the people short. At the same time, you are placing a huge claim on intensive care care. ”
Two weeks in intensive care
Corona patients who are in intensive care mainly develop double pneumonia. “This clinical picture is characterized by a long stay of two weeks in intensive care. That is very important information to keep in mind. Because if someone stays in intensive care for a short time, you can then put someone else down there again, ”says Berden.
76 deaths, 2460 registered infections
Officially, the coronavirus entered the Netherlands three weeks ago, when a man from Loon op Zand tested positive for the infectious disease. 76 people have died of the virus. Today, the Netherlands has 2460 registered corona infections according to RIVM, of which 870 are in our province. However, the actual number of people who have the coronavirus is higher, as not everyone with symptoms is tested. Requirements for eligibility have been tightened, due to a scarcity of test material. It is unclear how many people have been healed.
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