ALERT | FEATURED

MWH TO OPEN FIELD HOSPITAL FOR COVID PATIENTS

Mary Washington opening field hospital amid 'unprecedented surge' of virus patients

Cathy Dyson 22 hrs ago

Jerrianne Sheffield’s mother-in-law recently sat in an emergency room for 26 hours, waiting to be seen as she struggled to breathe.

She’d been brought to Mary Washington Hospital on a fire truck because no ambulances were available. As the older woman, who’s 78, waited with her husband—and the two did not want to be named—the couple saw dozens of elderly people around them. Even though the husband is 81 and has his own health problems, he helped other men with mobility issues get to the bathroom because no attendants were available, Sheffield said.

After a person sitting near her in-laws threw up on the floor, another person in the waiting room took a blanket, covered the vomit and pushed it aside where it sat for hours, she said. ... Sheffield shared the story, not in an attempt to bash the local hospital, but to bring attention to the dire situation currently in place. Hospitals across the region, state and nation are buckling under the pressure of overwhelming numbers of COVID-19 patients.

“We certainly didn’t understand the severity that they were experiencing,” said Sheffield, who lives in Fredericksburg. “I guess it’s just hard for us to imagine that this could happen. You just don’t expect that in the United States.”

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Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
cdyson@freelancestar.com