Explore a day in the life of Houston-area health care workers on the front lines
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Dr. Kabir Rezvankhoo suits up for another day on the frontlines of COVID-19.
"Alright, we're about to start the day," he said to the camera. "I'm not even sure you can even hear me with this ... with this motorcycle helmet. I'm probably muffled."
He donned a mask, helmet with a shield and gloves as he started his rounds at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital.
In a series of video diaries for ABC News that was shared with ABC13, Resvankhoo, an emergency medicine and critical care physician, and other doctors and nurses, provided an inside look at what they are facing every day as Texas sees a surge in COVID-19 cases.
READ MORE: ICU beds at the Texas Medical Center total at 97 percent capacity
"It's going to be a busy day today," said Rezvankhoo in his video diary. "We've got some patients waiting to come into the ICU. There's, I believe, three on the floor that are in the COVID wards that are needing to come downstairs to the intensive care unit, and they've got one downstairs in the ER that I'm heading to see. I heard this one was actually in pretty bad shape. So, I'm in a rush down there to go see them."
Like many Houston-area hospitals, workers are seeing more patients with COVID-19.
"I'm actually, right now, here in the ICU," said nurse Elizabeth Tarawally. "What we're seeing right now, it's the COVID patients. They are actually increasing."
In another video diary, Director of Nurse Practitioner Service, Betty Gonzalez, said, "We have seen a resurgence of more COVID patients coming in the past couple weeks. They tend to be a little younger than our first round some. Some are in their 20s. Many are in their 40s and early 50s. They are quite hypoxic when they come in, meaning their oxygen is low."
She continued saying, "we support them and put them on oxygen. We have a few more medications now that we're using than we did with our first round of patients and it does seem to be helping patients."
Dr. Fahreen Tariq, an infectious disease doctor, explained how they are trying keep up with trials and the best treatment options and therapeutics while also seeing more patients on both the medical floors and in the ICU.
She sat next to her colleague, Dr. Suneesh Nair, a pulmonolgist, as they both emphasized a message of prevention.
"We cannot do it without your help, and how you can help us is by wearing masks and social distancing and trying not to be out there unless you really have to," said Nair. "If there are too many patients, we all get spread thin."
