Starting last Tuesday night, after the floods in the province of València and the worst catastrophe in Europe, La Fe Hospital in València began to see a type of patient that was repeated in the following hours. The official reports from the Generalitat only talk about missing or deceased people. But are there any injuries? Yes, and many of them, the most serious ones, have ended up in La Fe this week, since it is the closest hospital to ground zero of the catastrophe.
The majority, due to significant fractures after trying to save themselves or due to impacts from objects and the force of water. According to hospital sources, others arrived with very developed and infected wounds: the mud is a source of bacteria and things were made worse by the fact that many of the patients could not go to any doctor in the first hours, until the level of the waters. Upon arrival they required surgery and antibiotics. If on a normal day there are 4 or 5 hospital admissions, after the overflow there were 22 surgical admissions. In recent days, a new type of patient is also arriving: volunteers who have gone to help remove mud who arrive with bruises or fractures, according to internal sources.
The Department of Health tells elDiario.es that in La Fe there is no collapse – despite the fact that this possibility was included in a fire department report from the Coordination Center – and there are 100 free beds. But the hospital is preparing for “tough weeks,” as it has warned its staff in a letter. The reason is that, like almost everyone in the capital, they have workers affected by the floods, on sick leave, who have lost everything or who cannot get to the hospital. Given this situation, it is keeping a count and asking for maximum activity from those who are incorporated.
The management also urges health workers to “expedite the discharge of hospitalized patients who can be transferred to their homes to free up hospital beds.” The problem is that those who came from l’Horta Sud, the epicenter of the misfortune and where 200,000 people live, do not have a home to return to in many cases. For them, it is indicated that they must be “relocated to the homes of family or friends and, if this is not possible, a consultation with social work must be processed.” The email reports that the drug and emergency services are already organized and asks health workers and administrative staff to collaborate between the different services “for the care of these people.”
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