POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2020
Behind
Enemy Lines
30
mins 33 secs
©2020
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
GPO
Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
The Big Apple is in bad shape. It's the epicentre of the US fight against the corona virus
outbreak. Its people are in lockdown while frontline services wage war
against the pandemic. With around 10,000 deaths estimated to have been caused by the
virus, New York City accounts for over a third of all corona-related
casualties in the US. Every day, there are hundreds of new infections and deaths. The
city's hospitals are overflowing, health workers lack medical and protective
equipment and morgues have run out of space. |
|
|
Foreign Correspondent's
reporter Karishma Vyas, a New York resident, goes behind the lines of the
city's battle to slow infections, save lives, protect its vulnerable and bury
the dead. We follow paramedics as
they respond to emergency house calls, helping desperate families. We
discover many who die of COVID -19 don't make the official death toll. |
|
|
We film with the police
union as they hand out desperately needed personal safety equipment to their
officers. "I thought I'd seen it
all on September 11th but I've never seen anything like this. We're
anticipating this getting even worse. So that's why we're trying to get this
equipment out to our guys," says a Union officer. We speak with an ICU nurse
who's travelled from out of state to lend a hand in a Bronx hospital. He
tells us about working double shifts, often with no break, and the pressure
of looking after multiple critically ill patients at the same time. A good
day is when none of his patients die. |
|
|
One overworked doctor
describes his frustration with the US health system. "I've had people come
in barely breathing and their first question isn't 'Am I going to survive?'
It's 'How is this going to impact my family financially?'" "This illness exposes
all the fault-lines throughout American society," says the doctor. We meet a restaurant owner
in Chinatown who's transformed his floundering business into a lunch delivery
service for frontline health workers. And we catch up with
characters who embody the city's spirit of defiance and survival. "I want to be
remembered as someone who never left the frontlines and who was
essential," says the Naked Cowboy, a performer whose stage is Times
Square - rain, hail or coronavirus. This is an intimate and
powerful portrait of a city in crisis. |
|
Drone
shots. New York city |
Music |
00:00 |
|
ANDREW CUOMO, Governor of New York: The President
said this is a war. I agree with that. This is a war. Then let’s act that
way. And let’s act that way now. |
00:06 |
Archival.
9/11 attack World Trade Center |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: As New York rose from the
ashes of 9/11, first responders became America’s heroes. |
00:17 |
Episode
teaser |
Now
they’re under attack again, this time from a hidden enemy. |
00:27 |
|
HOSPITAL
WORKER "Close the truck! Close the truck." |
00:30 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: New York is a key
battleground in the global war on COVID-19. |
00:34 |
|
MEGAN
PFEIFFER, Paramedic: There’s been a lot of deceased people. A lot of people
just waiting to die. |
00:38 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS, Reporter: Over two weeks, we’ll take you to the
frontlines. |
00:44 |
|
ARLENE
MEERTENS, Health Worker: It’s going be
a bleed-out, a massive bleed-out. |
00:47 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS, Reporter: Emergency workers fighting for survival as the
pandemic peaks. |
00:50 |
|
Paramedic: "Cover the mouth. Cover the
mouth." |
00:55 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS, Reporter: It’s a crisis that is laying bare the fault-lines at the heart of America and its iconic
city. |
00:57 |
|
Arlene: "Enough
is enough. Give us what we need to fight this coronavirus pandemic!" |
01:05 |
Title:
Behind Enemy Lines |
Music
|
01:13 |
Ambulances.
Super: |
|
01:18 |
Vyas
on street near ambulance |
Radio
News: "Updating you on the current numbers this morning, |
01:25 |
Super: Karishma Vyas |
the worldwide death toll of COVID-19 has now
surpassed more 100,000…" |
01:27 |
Paramedics
into apartment to elderly woman |
Music |
01:33 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Paramedics respond to a 911 call in Queens. An
elderly woman is struggling to breathe – a symptom consistent with COVID-19. |
01:40 |
|
It’s Good Friday, marking the death of Christ 2000 years
ago. But today, America is marking its own grim milestone. |
01:55 |
|
Paramedic: "We're going to have to take her to the
closest hospital, OK?" |
02:05 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: The country now leads the world in COVID-19 deaths. Around one-third of those are in New York –
the city I call home. |
02:09 |
|
Paramedic:
"Sit down, sit down, so you don't fall." |
02:32 |
Paramedics
with woman on stretcher |
Paramedic
2: "I've got to confirm that there's only one patient in the
building." |
02:36 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Daily ambulance callouts
have more than doubled since the start of March. |
02:42 |
Woman
into ambulance |
Paramedics
like Megan Pfeiffer are pulling double shifts, trying to give each patient
the care they deserve. But they’re also afraid for themselves. MEGAN PFEIFFER,
Paramedic: We take as many precautions as we can, |
02:47 |
Megan
interview on street |
but you know
there’s been several studies with viral load and the more you’re exposed to
it, potentially the worse it can be, and we don’t know a lot about it yet. It’s difficult. |
03:04 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Megan and her partner have let us accompany them on their shift
today. |
03:14 |
Karishma
in car with John Rugen following ambulance |
We’re not allowed
to ride in the actual ambulance for safety reasons, but we’re following
behind as they do their shift, and John, who’s also a paramedic, is taking
us. |
03:21 |
|
John Rugen has been a paramedic for over 20 years,
but nothing he’s seen compares to this. JOHN RUGEN, Paramedic: Anybody that we’re
treating, |
03:33 |
John
interview in car |
whether you have a fractured ankle, to the person
who’s actually complaining of fever and cough, we’re treating them as, you
know, you’re a possible COVID patient or a carrier of the virus, because we
have to protect ourselves. |
03:42 |
Paramedics
attend elderly couple |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: On the west side of
Queens, Megan and her partner attend an elderly couple with COVID
symptoms. They’ve been sick for a
week, but their condition has suddenly nose-dived. |
03:57 |
Interview
with daughter beside ambulance |
DAUGHTER: I’ve been outside all the time when I was
still working. You know, and I go to supermarket, you know, for their food,
grocery shopping. So, I guess it’s me. I brought it home. |
04:17 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: That must be really
difficult, to think that it was possibly you that… DAUGHTER: It is difficult, because sometimes when I
think about it, I kind of blame myself. |
04:30 |
Ambulance
departs. Rugen and Karishma follow in car |
[Siren] |
04:43 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Are you guys scared? JOHN RUGEN, Paramedic: We’re very scared. We’re
scared for ourselves, you know, because even though we’re healthcare
professionals, we have members that have underlying medical conditions
themselves, whether it’s high blood pressure, heart problems, asthma. |
04:56 |
|
They’re putting their lives in jeopardy. They’re
also putting their families in jeopardy. You know, I haven’t really spent
time around my parents, because they have medical conditions, but you know, I
check on them daily through the phone, make sure they’re ok, make sure
they’re staying inside. I have a son. He’s 8 years old. I haven’t seen him
since this started. |
05:12 |
Megan
and paramedics attending call |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: John’s not alone.
Over the last few weeks, many paramedics have chosen to shelter their
families from the dangers and the horrors of their work. |
05:37 |
|
MEGAN PFEIFFER,
Paramedic: We were dealing with
a lot -- last week at least -- a lot of cardiac arrests and people who were already
deceased in their homes. Prior to that there were a lot of really critical
patients, with oxygen levels really, really low; numbers we’ve never seen
before. There was one crew who pronounced a patient and then shortly after
that they had another patient who had hanged themselves, so we’re kind of
expecting with everything going on, unfortunately, more self-inflicted
injuries as well in addition to everything else, which is really tough to
deal with. My co-workers have become like my family, they’re really the only
ones that I can be around and it’s not a concern, because at this point we’re
all exposed. |
05:50 |
Drone
shots. NY City |
Music |
06:34 |
|
ANDREW CUOMO, Governor of New York: As Governor of New York, I am asking
healthcare professionals across the country – if you don’t have a healthcare
crisis in your community, please come help us in New York now. |
06:38 |
Drone
shots over empty NY street |
Music |
06:54 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: The scale of the crisis in New York and the rate at
which infections have soared is staggering. We heard about the first case on
March 1. Just three weeks later, the
city accounted for five percent of global infections. On March 22nd, a city-wide shutdown came
into effect. But as the streets and
stations emptied, the hospitals and the morgues continued to fill. |
06:57 |
Karishma
into empty subway |
Some
have described New York City under COVID as a warzone. I've
covered wars in my career. They’re not like this. In war, the destruction is out in the open. Here,
it’s behind closed doors. This emptiness is menacing, because you know what
it’s hiding. |
07:33 |
|
Music |
08:05 |
Times
Square subway station/ Karishma walks to Times Square |
|
08:09 |
|
DR DREW: People are being pushed into bankruptcy,
travel is down, the supply chain is being interrupted because of panic, not
because of the virus. |
08:13 |
Cowboy
playing guitar and singing |
COWBOY [singing]: "Got to live my own life. No
room for compromise. People say I’m crazy but I don’t believe the hype…" |
08:27 |
Karishma
to camera |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Only in New York will you see a man strumming a
Trump guitar in his underpants in the middle of a pandemic. COWBOY [singing]: "If you really wanna live, |
08:36 |
Cowboy
singing |
feel the way I feel, you gotta whip out your balls
of steel…" CYCLIST: I’ve seen him out here for 20 years, |
08:44 |
Cyclist |
the guy’s been out here. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: And what do you think of him? CYCLIST: He’s an iconic fixture in Times Square
area. He’s out here rain or shine. Cold or sunny. Look at him! |
08:53 |
Cowboy
singing |
COWBOY [singing]: "If you really wanna live,
feel the way I feel, you gotta whip out" -- I’m showing off. I’m sorry. |
09:06 |
|
MAN ON STREET: "Naked cowboy!" |
09:15 |
|
COWBOY: You know, the few people that are still
remaining, New Yorkers – a lot of them I already know, |
09:17 |
Cowboy
interview |
so they’re like “I can’t believe you’re here!” Which
is great. It’s very enriching and also for them and for me. |
09:23 |
Man
with bike talking to Cowboy |
MAN WITH BIKE: "Being out here it’s so great to
see you man!" COWBOY: "Thank you, buddy." COWBOY: And then there are all the essential
workers, the police officers, the firemen, you know what I’m saying,
everybody driving by, the city’s coming back we’re gonna rock’n’roll, kill
it, |
09:28 |
Cowboy
with Karishma |
not a big deal. And I wanna be seen as somebody who
never left the frontlines and was considered essential. |
09:42 |
|
MAN: "Even though it’s deserted, we still here,
right Cowboy?" |
09:50 |
Cowboy
performs on street/Woman takes photo |
COWBOY [singing]: Trump’s gonna build a wall, that
wall’s gonna protect us all, sounds like a good idea to me. He got the
economy moving again with lower taxes for you my friend, sounds like a good
idea to me." |
09:54 |
Cowboy
and man elbow 'bump' |
COWBOY: I’m not making any money and I don’t care. I
wanna make history. |
10:10 |
Cowboy
and man sing |
SINGALONG: "Trump’s gonna build a wall, that
wall's going to protect us all, sound like a good idea to me…" |
10:16 |
|
COWBOY: I don’t care if you’re in a hospital bed
with a ventilator, say ‘Coronavirus is my bitch! I’m gonna use this to make
me better.’ I mean, that’s just what everyone has to do. |
10:24 |
Nurses
pose with Cowboy |
COWBOY: Some people know how to give an elbow. MELINDA, Health worker: I won’t swallow. COWBOY: What?! MELINDA, Health worker: We’re essential medical
staff, we’re from |
10:37 |
Melinda
interview on street |
Washington, Indianapolis, Kentucky, San Diego,
Houston. We’re here to staff the COVID hospitals. Here with about 300 other
nurse practitioners. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: You’re here to reinforce the state’s medical staff? MELINDA, Health worker: Yes. |
10:48 |
Sarah
interview on street |
SARAH, Health worker: We’re all from other states,
and New York has really been hit the worst, and all we know is what we’ve
seen on TV. And you never know if it’s being overplayed or underplayed, and
you see what, you know, your governor says, what President Trump says, you
just see all kinds of stuff and so… MELINDA, Health worker: It’s not real. SARAH, Health worker: You really just don’t know
what we’re walking into and so we’re kind of just going in blind. |
11:03 |
Central
Park |
Music |
11:22 |
Karishma
meets up with health workers in park |
|
11:32 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: I meet up later with
the visiting health workers in Central Park.
|
11:39 |
|
Some of them, like Zach Kannapel – an ICU nurse from
Kentucky – have come from states where the COVID burden is low and hospital
staff have been sent home. |
11:46 |
Zach
interview |
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: I kept seeing the numbers
going up, they were struggling here and needed help. Got the details, called.
And in the meantime, I was trying to figure out things with work and they
basically told me I had to resign to come here, if I wanted to come. And I
said bye. |
11:57 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: So you don’t have a
job to go back to right now? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: No. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Wow, why did you do
it Zach? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Just because… SARAH, Health worker: You’re a nurse. ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Yeah, I’m a nurse. Like I
would rather be here helping make a difference than sit at home. |
12:15 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: The nurses are waiting to
start their assignments. None of them
has worked during an outbreak before. |
12:27 |
Arlene
interview |
ARLENE MEERTENS, Health
Worker: Nursing is a lot as it is before any pandemic came into play, so now
we have this situation going on and you already know ‘OK, I have this
person’s life on my hands’, but now it’s like ten times more critical. You
don’t want to make a mistake and unfortunately under these types of
circumstances mistakes are bound to happen. |
12:35 |
Kelly
interview |
KELLY, Nurse: I’m expecting it to be pretty crazy.
I’m expecting it to kind of look like a trauma zone. So… KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: You’re bracing
yourself? KELLY, Nurse: Bracing myself, yes. |
12:52 |
Zach
interview |
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Hopefully, we can just take it a day at a
time and go in there with the best attitude, and hit the ground running. |
13:04 |
Karishma
on street with Zach |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Back near their hotel
in Times Square, I arrange to call Zach in a few days, after he’s started his
assignment. |
13:12 |
Thank
you to healthcare workers sign |
Getting healthcare workers to talk for this story
has been tough. The city’s hospitals have gone into media lockdown – blocking
access and gagging staff. |
13:21 |
Hospital
exteriors |
Reports and leaked videos describe chaos; critical
shortages of Personal Protective Equipment or PPE, testing sites overwhelmed,
|
13:34 |
Refrigerated
morgue trucks |
and bodies piled up in refrigerated trucks --
something we’ve been able to film ourselves, despite the best efforts of
hospitals to prevent it. |
13:48 |
|
HOSPITAL WORKER:
I’m here working 12 hours a day and you’re recording us moving bodies.
That's not cool. Close the truck! Close the truck. |
14:00 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: It all adds up to a
system that isn’t coping. And it’s not
only health workers who are vulnerable. |
14:10 |
Mullins
with police officers loading masks |
ED MULLINS, President, New York Sergeant's
Benevolent Association: "We’re
going try to get more, this stuff is not easy to get though. I had ordered
200,000 masks, held up at Kennedy airport. Apparently, customs is taking
everything and sending it to the hospitals, which I get. But we also get you
to the hospital, so, you know." |
14:23 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: President of New York’s Sergeant’s Benevolent
Association, Ed Mullins, has been a vocal critic of the lack of PPE made
available for police. |
14:39 |
|
Almost 20 percent of the NYPD is off sick. More than
two and a half thousand have tested positive for COVID-19. Mullins and the
union he heads have taken matters into their own hands, raising funds for a
massive handout of PPE, hand sanitiser and bleach to NYPD precincts. |
14:52 |
|
ED MULLINS, President, New York Sergeant's
Benevolent Association: We’ve seen
this city go from the early '80s, where we had 3000 murders, crime all over
the place. |
15:18 |
Mullins
interview on street |
Then the World Trade Center, which is a block from
here, attacked twice – I actually worked both attacks. And you know, you
think you’ve seen it all and then this is what we’re dealing with now. Our
members are sick, hospitalised, you know, we lost a detective a couple of
days ago. So we’re trying to do what we can to keep people safe. |
15:25 |
Mullins
with police officers |
"Make sure you keep the mask on and the gloves
and all that stuff. Don’t think it can’t happen to you. You know the guys
don’t think we're going get it, so you get it. You know? Nobody thinks it’s
going to be you. You know. How's it going?...District 3, transit. District 3!
How many people you got sick? |
15:47 |
Mullins
with transit policeman |
Transit Policeman: "Ah, we have about 40." Mullins: "Forty?" Transit Policeman: "Yes, sir." Mullins: "Wow! That’s not good. That’s not good
at all." |
16:10 |
Mullins
and transit policeman load car |
ED MULLINS, President, New York Sergeant's
Benevolent Association: I’ve never
seen anything like this. I thought I’d seen it all. You go uptown, 10 blocks
from here it could take you 20 minutes. Right now you could be there in about
a minute and a half, there’s no traffic, there’s nobody on the streets. |
16:19 |
|
This is almost like a zombie apocalypse. You know, I
would equate this to a science fiction movie. |
16:32 |
Policewoman
loading van |
|
16:40 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS, Reporter: Can you tell us, what are the challenges
you're facing on the job
right now. |
16:43 |
Policewoman
interview on street |
POLICEWOMAN: You’re just trying to stay healthy. You
don’t want to get sick, and you don’t know who has the coronavirus. And then
you’re afraid you’re going to bring it home, so we're just trying to play it
safe, cleaning everything, my hands are, I can’t even tell you. It’s not
easy. Mentally it’s draining. |
16:47 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Are you worried about
the next couple of weeks? POLICEWOMAN:
If you’re not, you’re crazy. |
17:09 |
NY
GVs |
Music |
17:15 |
Karishma
sits on stairs on laptop video calling Zach |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: I hear from ICU nurse Zach that he’s been working in
a hospital in the Bronx. We’ve been
messaging each other over the last few nights. Now, he’s ready to talk. " Oh, there you are. Hi Zach, how are you
doing?" |
17:56 |
|
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Right now I'm
okay. I'm exhausted. My feet hurt. And it's only day three. I had four
patients. The floor I was on before that today had six. And all my patients were on like three
different drips, you know, sedation, and then pressure support medicine to
keep their blood pressure up, as well as on the ventilator. And it was just
me, myself and I with those four patients. |
18:13 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: How does this compare
to what you’re used to? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: This is different, because they progress so
fast. |
18:43 |
|
They'll come in short of breath and then
we'll put them on oxygen and then that won't help them. And the next
thing you know, they're intubated. It happens within an hour or less. It's
progressed that quick. A lot of them will come in saying they've had a cough
for five or 10 days, or symptoms for that long. Then I guess their immune
system just gets overtaken and can't fight it off anymore and it finally
catches up to them and they can't breathe, so then they end up coming in to
us. |
18:52 |
|
Like, normally I would have two patients in
the ICU, and usually I would have one that's not as sick and on all those
medicines, and then I'd have one that was. But now I have four that are that
sick at the same time. So I don't sit down, don't do lunch because I'm so
focused on trying to keep them afloat. |
19:30 |
|
There were about six patients that passed on
that one floor I was on today. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Just today? Six patients died just today? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Yeah. On that one floor. And it's all ages. |
19:54 |
|
The young are in there too. There's people
my age that's died at this hospital. |
20:09 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: What is the
mental state of the staff you're working who’ve been doing this for weeks
now? |
20:19 |
|
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: They feel like
it's a warzone. Like they're in a living hell. Like your worst nightmare as a
nurse. They're tired, but they keep fighting, because that's what they're
there for. |
20:24 |
GV.
NY building over freeway |
Music |
20:49 |
|
Radio Announcer: "New York needs more beds,
more ventilators, more PPE, more health professionals, and that includes more
ambulances and crews…" |
21:00 |
Karishma
driving |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Zach’s experience appears to confirm what hospitals
have tried to hide. Healthcare workers are chronically over-worked and
under-resourced. In the time we’ve
been filming this story, the voices of dissent have grown bolder. |
21:10 |
Arlene
with health care workers protesting outside medical centre |
Arlene: "Enough is enough! Give us what we need
to continue to fight this coronavirus pandemic. If you do not give it to us,
more of our co-workers will die. And we are coming here, even if we’re tired,
even if we are afraid, we are coming because we know that lives matter. It
has to stop. You’re welcome. |
21:29 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Outside a medical
centre in Brooklyn, staff have come together in protest. Patient care
technician and mother of seven Arlene Meertens says she’s terrified. |
21:59 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Do you know colleagues, friends who have
been infected, who are sick? |
22:11 |
|
ARLEEN MEERTENS, Health worker: I have three
co-workers that have died, that I know of! |
22:16 |
|
MALE HEALTH WORKER: It could be contact, it could be
droplets. Could be airborne. They don’t know. |
22:21 |
|
FEMALE HEALTH WORKER: Before this COVID even started we already
had problem with staffing. One RN has to sometimes take care of 60 patients. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Six? FEMALE HEALTH WORKER: 60. Six-zero. Last time I was one nurse for
57 patients. |
22:26 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Are you buying your
own protective gear to help you treat this? FEMALE HEALTH WORKER: You have to buy it as extra,
because if you’re going get like one or two for the day, you have to see 60
room, you have to see 60 patient, you know it’s only fair that you cover
yourself and cover them. |
22:42 |
Dr
Mike Pappas at protest |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Resident doctor Mike Pappas and other protestors
here are risking their jobs by speaking out. |
22:57 |
Pappas
interview |
MIKE PAPPAS, Hospital resident doctor: The hospitals
are actually threatening employees, and the way that hospitals actually couch
that, too, is they’ll say, ‘Your job could be on the line and you don’t want
to risk your job, because you care about patients don’t you? So if you came
out here and we had to fire you because you were violating our policies, then
you’d be putting patients at risk.’ |
23:06 |
Healthcare
workers holding placards |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Mike is protesting
more than work conditions. He sees America’s user-pay health system as the
true sickness, leaving the uninsured and the poor most vulnerable. |
23:29 |
|
MIKE PAPPAS, Hospital resident doctor: I see
coronavirus as something that is magnifying all of the systemic issues that
have always put people at risk. It’s magnifying the racism, the systemic |
23:43 |
Pappas
interview |
racism that is central to our society. That’s why
predominantly black and brown people are being diagnosed with and dying from
coronavirus in the US. It’s magnifying how the economic system puts profit
over all else. We see that in companies trying to raise the prices of
ventilators during a pandemic. |
23:56 |
Ambulance
attends cardiac arrest |
[Siren]/Music |
24:15 |
Karishma
travels with John Rugen |
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: I’m back with the ambulance service in Queens, on a
callout to a woman who has stopped breathing.
|
24:36 |
Paramedics
in apartment administer CPR |
Inside, first responders start CPR. Paramedic: "4-9-Victor, cardiac arrest, first
call, in the house." KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: We’ve heard reports of a spike in cardiac arrests in
people’s homes. Paramedic: "Who's next?" KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Paramedics believe most are COVID-related. Paramedic: "Just give me one second… |
24:47 |
|
Just cover the mouth. Cover her mouth with the…yeah." KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: We’ve also been hearing that due to the sheer number
of 911 calls, when the outlook isn’t good… |
24:04 |
|
Paramedic: "How’s the cap?" Paramedic 2: "Ah, 29." KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: …Paramedics have been cutting short the length of
time that they administer CPR. Paramedic: "Telemetry, 4-9-Victor, second call,
cardiac arrest." |
25:14 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: In this case, emergency responders refuse to give
up, but after more than 40 minutes, there’s still no response. |
25:26 |
|
The woman is pronounced dead on scene. |
25:37 |
|
Paramedic: "All right, doc. Thank you." MEGAN PFEIFFER, Paramedic: We’ve had more cardiac
arrests, I don’t even know the exact numbers, but I think |
25:42 |
Paramedics
return to ambulance |
more in the last week than last year combined. There were some ambulances who did about five
cardiac arrests in one shift. |
25:49 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: The true death toll
of COVID-19 may never be known. At the
FDNY ambulance depot in Queens, I catch up with Paramedic Megan Pfeiffer.
It’s been a gruelling week. |
25:58 |
Megan
interview at ambulance depot |
MEGAN PFEIFFER, Paramedic: It’s been kind of hard to
deal with, because usually we get some good calls in between where we’re able
to help people a little more, and we see that we're helping them and improve
them. But it’s just been, like I said, one person after the next after the
next after the next. A lot of people dying that we’re seeing, and it’s really
hard to deal with. |
26:13 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: How are you dealing with this mentally? Have you
noticed changes in yourself? |
26:30 |
|
MEGAN PFEIFFER, Paramedic: Absolutely. There’s a lot
of ups and downs. There’s some days I go home and I’m just so depressed and
upset, I’m hysterical crying. I’ve had anxiety attacks. We try to talk to
each other and really lean on each other. |
26:34 |
|
The FDNY being a family has really been more so than
ever, because that's kind of the only support we have. It's a lot easier to
talk to a co-worker. They are offering counselling. I haven’t really gotten
around to it quite yet, because we’re still in the thick of it. So I think it
hasn’t fully hit. I’m sure once things settle down it’s going to hit a lot
harder and I probably will need to talk to somebody. |
26:47 |
Drone
shots. NY city. Night |
Music |
27:10 |
|
Radio announcer: "Michigan is also struggling.
Thousands of healthcare workers there are sick either with the coronavirus or
symptoms of it. Hospital workers across the country, setting up for war. And
saving coronavirus patients while putting their own lives on the line." |
27:22 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Hi Zach. How was today? How
you holding up? |
27:44 |
Zach
video call |
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Today was a rough
day. I will say that. |
27:47 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: What was especially rough
about today? |
27:52 |
|
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Just how sick they were, how busy it was,
how many patients expired. And then the bodies are just sitting in the room
waiting to be picked up. Because there's so many in the hospital to be picked
up. |
27:55 |
|
And overhead they
kept paging, hey, if you have stretchers please put them by the service
elevators, because that's what they're transporting the bodies with. I guess
they were running short of stretchers. KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Because there was so many
bodies? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Yeah. |
28:12 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: That's hard. Are you getting to know any of the patients, learn about
their life? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: They're too sick.
And they're are on the ventilators, so they're all sedated. |
28:29 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: So you don't get to talk to them, or find out about their life? ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: No. Nothing. |
28:44 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: You’re just too busy keeping them alive? |
28:53 |
|
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: Right. And then the saddest part of it all is
there's no family there with them. And so there's no one there whenever they
do die. |
28:57 |
|
KARISHMA VYAS,
Reporter: Did anything good
happen today? Anything that you can hold onto or get hope from? |
29:09 |
|
ZACH KANNAPEL, ICU Nurse: None of my patients
passed. |
29:27 |
Drone
shot. Empty NY street. |
Music/ Sirens |
29:33 |
Credits
[see below] |
|
29:55 |
Outpoint |
|
30:33 |
CREDITS:
Reporter: Karishma Vyas
Producer: Alex Barry
Camera: Bruno Federico
Editor: Peter O’Donoghue
Assistant Editor: Tom Carr
Drone: Drone Fanatic
Archive Researcher: Michelle Boukheris
Production Manager: Victoria Allen
Publicity: Paul Akkermans
Digital Producer: Matt Henry
Associate Producer: Lisa McGregor
Executive Producer: Matthew Carney
abc.net.au/foreign
© 2020 Australian Broadcasting Corporation