With Hospitals Overwhelmed, Health Care Workers Plead For Help | TODAY

The U.S. has now surpassed a quarter of a million coronavirus deaths. The grim situation has led to a desperate and united plea from doctors and nurses at nearly 100 hospitals nationwide. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for TODAY from hard-hit Iowa.

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With Hospitals Overwhelmed, Health Care Workers Plead For Help | TODAY

[kathleenmartin]

Nursing staff has always been short staffed, in hospitals & clinics, all over the US. About 1 year ago, hospitals & clinics cut staff members to stream line services & increase administrators salaries. I worked as an RN for almost 40 years. Every year, staffing numbers decreased, while managers & administrators numbers & salaries increased.

[jimiweezer]

Many hospitals are filled. Many are not. My wife’s hospital here in Miami, FL are cancelling nurses because they have very low patient counts. Yet, we are supposedly the county with the highest amount of cases in the state.

[shwangfuhr]

Didn't they try this about six months ago??

[bilbobaggins]

Died "with" COVID or "of" COVID???? That is the question

[lindapindabelinda]

Other stations are reporting that striking hospital in Philadelphia has been working without a contract for close to a year and has been paying nurses so much less than the average going rate for the area that they are losing nurses by the hundreds and have been for quite some time. The problems with the overcrowding, over scheduling, and missing PPE is just the icing on a nasty cake. Running a hospital like a corporation is a big part of that problem.

[oliviagreen]

Wait if all the nurses are protesting outside, whose caring for the covid patients inside?

[htownblack]

None of these hospitals are overwhelmed I’m down here in Houston I see none of this

[Lookintobookz]

Our hospitals are empty and nurses are being laid off....soooo....I think this is only in big cities

[chriscraven]

Overwhelmed? Probably shouldn't have cut so much staff as the hospitals lie empty the last six months, huh?

The only thing here that’s overwhelmed is everyone’s patience with the media.

[cannonify]

Exhausted and overworked but apparently not too busy to complain or protest.

[akmd]

If the guy is awake and alert, wtf is he intubated????

[jwwnpzj]

Are these overwhelmed hospitals going to have to build more expensive unused field hospitals?

[boomer]

Yes, they need help, because they don't have enough time to Tik Tok out their twerking videos.

[mine-tzst]

Well if you guys say it, we know it's a lie.

[laragio]

Hospitals are NOT being overwhelmed. Some are, and they will get through it.

[small_ed]

What hospitals are overwhelmed? People don't start flocking to hospitals just because they happen to have symptoms of an upper respiratory infection!

[printingwithlue]

They got plenty of time to protest now that they have been told to stop making tiktoks while they stand around doing NOTHING.

[small_ed]

If nurses and "front-line workers" are so badly needed, then why are they outside protesting instead of inside helping patients?

[ripvanwinkle]

Frontline going on strike. We Soldiers should have considered this during Iraq war.