A local man who was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic is sharing his remarkable story. Jeff Reese spent 26 days in the ICU at Strong Hospital, where he suffered a collapsed lung, shock, and cardiac arrest. Reese's doctors say he was on high doses of sedation, pain medication, chemical paralytics, and received maximum support from a ventilator. Members of his medical team says they learned a lot about the virus during this time -- when reports from Europe and New York City estimated a 60-80 percent mortality rate in patients who were critically ill.
This hour, we talk to Jeff Reese and his doctors about surviving COVID-19. Our guests:
- Jeff Reese, Rochester resident who survived a critical case of COVID-19
- Anthony Pietropaoli, M.D., vice chief of the Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, and medical director for the Medical Intensive Care Service at Strong Memorial Hospital
- Mary Anne Morgan, M.D., associate professor in the University of Rochester Department of Medicine, and program director of the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship