INDIANAPOLIS — Things on floor B7 at IU Health Methodist Hospital are not quite “normal,” but Dr. Warren Gavin says it is getting there.
The medical-surgical floor is a 20-something bed unit that alongside other illnesses, cares for COVID-19 patients.
“I like to say that the worst is behind us. Obviously, nobody’s got a crystal ball, but it feels a lot more manageable now,” said Philip King, an internal medicine pharmacist.
Relief is the word that comes to several team members’ minds when looking around the halls of B7. On Wednesday, there was only one COVID-19 patient.
RELATED | ‘Those numbers speak pretty loudly’: Inside a COVID-19 unit at IU Methodist
Not long ago during Omicron’s peak, the IU Health hospital system had some 640 patients with COVID at one time.
Right before Christmas, a U.S. Navy medical team was deployed to the hospital. Gavin said residents too were reassigned to help. Floor B7 was full completely with COVID-19 patients. Yellow carts lined the hallways.
“Overall from a numbers standpoint, from a prognosis standpoint, things are much, much better,” Gavin said.
But even with declining numbers, the team’s guard isn’t down.
“As the numbers are falling and you get back to doing what you're normally doing, things feel much, much better. But again in the back of your mind, you always worry, 'hey are we going to start going up again? Is there going to be another variant?'” Gavin said.
Nurse Theresa Thompson agrees. A line of yellow carts sit packed and ready on the floor, just in case they are needed.
“It’s still very real, I mean it’s still around and people can still get sick from it. I think it’s important to still take all necessary precautions,” Miller said. The RN started her career in the middle of the pandemic. She credits the environment for quick learning and making her a better provider.
Miller and others on the unit say the support they give to each other is what not only gets them through but brings them back every day.
“We’ve all been in this together and our floor is a little family,” Gavin said.
King adds the backbone of treatments mostly stayed the same, and supply is improving.
Gavin and his team say they are prepared for whatever may come next.
“Things are improved, but things are not over,” Gavin said.
-
Caitlin Clark swaps three-pointers for par threes at LPGA event
Basketball fans are used to seeing Caitlin Clark produce out of this world feats on an almost nightly basis, but Wednesday served as an important reminder that the phenom is human after all.
Fortville woman charged with cheating on gambling game
A Fortville woman is accused of cheating on a gambling game at the Harrah’s Hoosier Park casino in Anderson.
Perfect season has turned Indiana into the toast of college football
Even the start of basketball season at one of the sport’s true blueblood programs cannot diminish the excitement of college football’s biggest surprise and best story.
Colts give Anthony Richardson the starting QB job for rest of season
Richardson will move forward as the starting quarterback for the Colts. This comes two weeks after coach Shane Steichen benched Richardson in favor of 39-year-old Joe Flacco.
