‘Beds were full’: John Pelekanos on being treated for COVID-19 twice at Westmead Hospital

·

Westmead Hospital has been forced to enact disaster management plans, buckling under the strain of surging COVID-19 numbers in NSW.

In a note to colleagues last night seen by Nine News, Acting General Manager, Jenelle Matic, said the hospital was “no longer operating in a business-as-usual environment.”

The facility put a 24-hour pause on accepting any new coronavirus patients as it is already managing about 1,500 in the community and 121 in the wards.

57-year-old courier, John Pelekanos, told Nine News he knows the pressure Westmead Hospital is under better than most after two stints inside the facility with COVID-19.

“Beds were full, there were machines all over the place and the second time I left from [my house] I was in the car park for about four or five hours before I could see a doctor,” Mr Pelekanos told Nine News.

Although COVID-19 patients are now being sent away from the hospital to others as far away as Wollongong and the Northern Beaches, NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, insisted at a press conference on Wednesday the health system is not overwhelmed.

“I want to assure the community that we have been working as a health system on this since January and February last year and ensuring we have stepped up the number of available ICU beds, and staff working in those intensive care units, ventilators, but Westmead Hospital is typical of the sorts of pressures you’d expect when you got a major hospital in the middle of the epicentre of the virus outbreak,” Mr Hazzard said.

For Mr Pelekanos, his hospital experience has seen him switch from a ‘vaccine sceptic to a believer.’

“‘Uh it can’t happen to me,’ but you know what? It can happen to you, your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your uncle. It can be dire,” he said.

Source: Nine News.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Alumni excellence celebrated in style at Oakleigh Grammar

Oakleigh Grammar has inducted two more former students into the prestigious Alumni Hall of Fame.

A pilgrimage to heroic Souli: Remembering the legacy of the Souliotes and Souliotises

Nestled in the rugged mountains of Epirus, Souli is more than just a historical site—it is a symbol of resilience and bravery.

The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea: Defining Orthodoxy and preserving Hellenism

The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, convened in 325 AD by Emperor Constantine the Great, stands as a pivotal event in Christian history.

From PAK to PASOK: Sakis Gekas to lecture on anti-dictatorship resistance in Toronto

The talk will feature some of the key moments of the anti-dictatorship struggle and its manifestations in the public sphere.

US urges EU to abandon protections for feta and other regional products

The United States is ramping up pressure on the European Union to eliminate its system of geographical indications.

You May Also Like

Photo exhibition ‘Thanatos: Death Personified’ opens in Sydney

Photographers Effy Alexakis and Yannis Dramitinos joined with painter George Michelakakis for an exhibition on death in Sydney.

‘I did it straight away’: Why Bessie Dounis wanted her parents’ name on the National Monument to Migration

The National Monument to Migration developed by Australia’s National Maritime Museum is home to over 30,000 names of migrants.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Turkey: ‘We are not destined to live in perpetual tension’

Mitsotakis said that Greece needs a strong government to ensure the continuation of the foreign policy it has pursued towards Turkey.