43 Hospitals Filled With COVID-19 Patients, People With Heart Disease Died 274 Kilometers From Their Homes

Illustration of a patient care facility in a hospital. (Wikimedia Commons/Fars News Agency/Mohsen Atayi)

JAKARTA - Hundreds of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients filled the intensive care unit in Alabama, United States, prompting Cullman Regional Medical Center (CRMC) staff to contact 43 hospitals in three states, to find a cardiac ICU bed for Ray Martin DeMonia (73).

"DeMonia was taken to Cullman Regional Medical Center on August 23 because he had heart problems", his daughter Raven DeMonia said, citing CNN from The Washington Post on September 13.

Had been in the hospital for 12 hours, according to Raven's mother, received a call from CRMC, telling her father could not get an ICU bed.

The CRMC finally got an ICU bed for DeMonia who works as an antique dealer. However, it is at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi which is about 274 kilometers from his residence. It was there that he died of a heart disease he suffered on September 1 last.

Illustration of caring for COVID-19 patients. (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sara Eshleman)

"Out of respect for Ray, please get vaccinated if you haven't already, to free up resources for emergencies unrelated to COVID-19", the obituary wrote, representing the family's appeal, urging residents to receive a COVID-19 vaccine immediately.

"He doesn't want other families to go through what he did".

Alabama has for weeks seen a surge of mostly unvaccinated COVID-19 patients filling hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs). This condition led to the transfer of patients to other facilities for special treatment, said Dr. Don Williamson, a former state health worker who now heads the Alabama Hospital Association.

"Every day the hospital is trying to find a place to move patients, and it's very difficult. We have patients being transferred to Georgia, to Kentucky, to Florida", Williamson said, citing Time.

Separately, Jennifer Malone, a spokeswoman for Cullman Hospital, confirmed DeMonia was a patient of theirs, who needed to be transferred to receive a higher level of specialized care not available at CRMC.

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccination. (Wikimedia Commons/MDGovpics)

He could not comment further for privacy reasons, but said, "the continued surge in COVID-19 patients has saturated tertiary care hospitals, creating an ongoing and increasing challenge for Cullman Regional staff to find hospitals that can accept patient transfers. when needed".

Williamson also could not comment on the DeMonia case. But, he says the struggle to find open beds to transfer patients is a scenario that plays out every day.

"Basically, half of our ICU beds are now filled with COVID-19 patients", Williamson said.

Alabama as of Monday had 2,474 COVID-19 patients in government hospitals, of which 86 percent were unvaccinated, according to the Alabama Hospitals Association.

Nearly half of the state's intensive care unit beds, or 772 beds, are occupied by patients with COVID-19. And the surge in patients means some hospitals have had to convert other rooms into ICUs. Patients who are usually treated in ICU wards have been forced to be treated in emergency rooms, normal beds, or even in hospital hallways, state officials said.

Illustration of a COVID-19 vaccine. (Wikimedia Commons/Agência Brasília)

The state had 1,562 ICU patients as of Monday, with 1,551 dedicated ICU beds. The situation was worse on September 1, when DeMonia died. The state at that time lacked up to 92 beds for patients requiring ICU care.

Once threatened to reach an all-time high for inpatient cases during the Coronavirus pandemic, government hospitals have experienced a slight decline in recent days, said Dr. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health, last week.

"We continue to have a real crisis in Alabama with our ICU bed capacity", Harris said.

Harris said the number of COVID-19 vaccinations in Alabama had increased in recent weeks, with 40 percent of the state's population fully vaccinated, versus 53 percent nationally, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

In his obituary and in a story in his hometown newspaper, The Cullman Times, DeMonia is remembered as a family man who developed a love of antiques, supporting every community fundraiser.

"Ray DeMonia is like no other", his family wrote.