“She came in walking and talking, and not even a few hours later was completely unresponsive.”

An Emergency Room Technician is both saddened and scared to see healthy young adults dying suddenly of COVID-19.

I came in to work the other day and helped get a patient who had an abnormally fast heartbeat (Supraventricular Tachycardia) set up on our monitors. I helped perform an EKG. Her breathing slowly started to settle, although she was still in visible distress. She stabilized, and for a few hours and I continued my job duties. 

Next thing I knew, there was an overhead page for “all techs to room __ stat”. She coded. Her heart had stopped. 

We performed compressions for 15+ minutes. We then found out she was COVID+. We were unable to resuscitate her. She was 30 years old. 

This was both sad and scary because she came in walking and talking, and not even a few hours later was completely unresponsive. She’s only a few years older than me. This virus moves fast and healthcare providers, chemists and scientists have to find a way to move faster.

Gaby DuFour - ER Tech, Chicago, IL