In Depth: Ventura County hospitals dealing with surge of COVID-19 patients

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - Segment A: Ventura Hospital Copes With “Surge”

Hal talks to Dr. John Fankhouser, the CEO of Ventura County Medical Center about how the hospital is making modifications to deal with an increase in COVID-19 patients. Fankhouser says that they have been able to re-open hospital spaces that they had moved out of earlier, in order  to accommodate more patients.  Nevertheless, their ICU capacity is becoming strained. They have also had to request additional staffing, especially nurses, from out of the area. They are doing all that they can to keep their regular patients safe from the virus.

Dr. Joseph Escherick and Dr. Melissa Barger talk about the unusual symptoms COVID-19 patients are suffering from, and the post inflammatory symptoms that are plaguing juvenile patients.
 
Segment B: Recovered COVID-19 Patient

Francisco Rodriguez joins us by phone to talk about his personal experience fighting the disease. Rodriguez spent nearly two weeks in the hospital battling the virus.  He says it is deadly serious. His symptoms started with chills and fever and progressed to the point where he had great difficulty breathing, felt like his head was burning, his bones ached and was in such misery he was afraid he was going to die.

Dr. Fankhouser says that even though Rodriguez has recovered, there is still a possibility that symptoms could recur, or long-lasting side effects could be present as a result of his infection. Rodriguez admonishes people to take the virus seriously and to wear a mask.
 
 Segment C: Ebola Epidemic Experience

Dr. Fankhouser re-joins us to talk about his intimate knowledge of a different epidemic – Ebola.  He traveled to Liberia to provide medical assistance to the community, but while he was there, the Ebola epidemic broke out in 2014.   Several of his colleagues actually came down with the disease but recovered. Fankhouser shares details of that battle against Ebola and draws parallels to the COVID-19 virus.
 
Segment D: Wrapup

We close with the USC marching band along with song girls and spirit leaders performing “Tusk” via zoom.