Ray Martin DeMonia († 73) suffers a heart attack, calls the emergency number in his hometown of Cullman (US state Alabama). The emergency staff wants to have him taken care of and begins to look for a vacant intensive care bed, preferably in a cardiac intensive care unit.
But according to his family, DeMonia was turned away from 43 hospitals in three different states – because all intensive care beds were occupied with Covid 19 cases.
Family calls for vaccination
Now his family calls in his obituary to get vaccinated. The staff in all the hospitals contacted are said to have been overloaded in view of the Covid 19 cases triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant.
“In honor of Ray, please get vaccinated if you haven’t already to free up resources for non-Covid-related emergencies,” the obituary said. “He would not have wanted another family to have to go through the same thing as his.” Ray Martin DeMonia was loud “The Independent” vaccinated.
Hospital admission came too late
Ray Martin DeMonia died in a Mississippi hospital on September 1, according to his obituary. Just three days before his 74th birthday. Rescue workers eventually found a vacant bed at the Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, about 200 miles from where he lived.
But it was too late, he died. He leaves behind his wife, daughter and grandson.
Scott Harris, head of the Alabama health department, said, according to The Independent, how the state is currently in the state. He told reporters, “We still have a real crisis in Alabama in terms of our ICU bed capacity.”
More intensive care patients than free beds – and low vaccination rates
He added that there were about 60 more ICU patients than vacant beds in the state over the past week.
In Alabama, only 40 percent of citizens are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The state has the fourth lowest vaccination rate of any state in the United States. (euc)