Family doctor offers glimpse of COVID cases at Beacon, pleads for community to get vaccinated

Joseph Caruso, MD, Beacon Medical Group.

In his own words: Dr. Joe Caruso, a Beacon Medical Group family physician.

The hospitals and ICUs are filling up with COVID patients again.

They are not filling up with vaccinated patients; they are filling up with very sick people who choose to not get vaccinated.

They are not filling up with people who are having side effects or complications of the COVID vaccine. They are filling up with men and women in their 50s with no underlying medical problems, in many cases.

There are not good medications available to help. There are medications that we can use to try to help, but the benefits are mild and the road to recovery is long, difficult, scary, isolated and uncertain. And the recovery might not be complete. And there is a lot of time missed from work. And on and on and on.

I am not writing this to be causing fear. I am writing this to help people understand the picture of what is out there.

And I am writing this because I am losing sleep over it, so I have time available to write.

Yesterday, a man in his 50s that I have cared for, for three decades, started his hospitalization. No risk factors. Not vaccinated.

Yesterday, a woman saw me in the office for her first post-hospital check. No previous lung issues, but now she cannot walk across the room without gasping. This is three weeks after discharge. Not vaccinated. What will her future hold? She is missing her fifth week of work. She is in her early 50s.

It goes on and on.

In the context of what is going on, can you understand why we are pleading for people to get vaccinated?

If you are not vaccinated, or if you know people that are not vaccinated, please consider this information. Please wear your mask when you are around others. Please follow CDC recommendations.

I have nothing to gain by recommending this other than the knowledge that I am doing what I can to help people avoid a terrible disease.

If someone I know has a serious adverse effect from the vaccine, I will undoubtedly feel extremely badly for them.

But it won’t compare to how I will feel if I have not done what I can to help them get vaccinated.

Written by Dr. Joe Caruso, family physician, Beacon Medical Group Schwartz-Weikamp in Mishawaka.