Mar 8
Anesthesiology and Covid: The Work of a Doctor Dealing with Both
How one local anesthesiologist saw his job rapidly change amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
From administering calming anesthesia to administering COVID patients, the work quickly flipped for Dr. Dan Hasfurther, MD, once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He quickly walked down the long halls of his hospital very differently once the large waves of COVID struck the world.
Dr. Hasfurther is a local anesthesiologist who works for Carson Tahoe Health and occasionally St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno. Beginning in Reno in 1996, he mostly provides anesthesia for patients and assists surgeons during procedures. Most of his days are rotations of different operations, making sure patients are as comfortable as possible going into a procedure.
In the comfort of his home with a golf view, Dr. Hasfurther reminisces on those “easier” years of a medical job without a global pandemic.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the job wasn’t as straightforward.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there were several unknowns about the virus. Also, being in a profession that deals with respiratory health made anesthesiology difficult.
Dr. Hasfurther mentions how, “Unfortunately, the profession that I’m in, we’re constantly dealing with airways and that type of stuff. We’re right in the middle of and not really knowing how this thing is spread and if it’s going to kill me if I get it. That type of stuff we didn’t have a vaccine at the time.”
For Dr. Hasfurther, those unknowns are the scariest part. He describes how terrifying it was for him to take it home and the precautions he’d take. With a wife who is a breast cancer survivor, Dr. Hasfurther took no chances the moment he walked into the house.
“I’m bringing this home to my family potentially, so I would literally drop my clothes in the garage. Just jump right in the shower as I walked into the house,” Dr. Hasfurther said.
As the pandemic worsened, Dr. Hasfurther mentions how overcrowded his hospital became. They had roughly 94 COVID patients at a time, forcing them to shut down operating rooms to save on personal protective equipment (PPE.)
“We even got to the point where we started setting up our anesthesia machines to become ventilators for ICU patients,” he says.
According to a COVID tracker by the New York Times, Nevada has seen around 9,799 deaths so far. Those constant calls of patients dying left and right in his hospital alone will forever be a haunting memory for Dr. Hasfurther.
Thankfully, he stated they never had to reach a point of deciding who to save and who to let pass.
Fortunately, the pandemic continues to trend down. While many continue to be infected, Dr. Hasfurther says those calls of people dying aren’t really happening anymore.
Those that continue to be infected are mostly unvaccinated people Dr. Hasfurther says. “Doesn’t mean that you still can’t get COVID, It just doesn’t seem as bad if you’ve had some immunity to it.”
Of course with the mask mandate in the state of Nevada being lifted, concerns of increased infections begin to rise.
Is it the right time to ditch the masks?
“That’s the million dollar question. Can we get rid of the masks? Probably yeah, we’re getting there. I think that we can but you don’t want to denigrate anybody that wants to continue to wear their mask,” Dr. Hasfurther explained.
For those who are vaccinated but unsure about ripping the masks off, Dr. Hasfurthers message is do what’s comfortable. Masks provide protection for oneself and others, so even with immunity, one can never be too safe.
His message for those that aren’t vaccinated?
Get the vaccine.
Dr. Hasfurther says, “I understand that people have their own kind of views on vaccines, but you know, we have a lot of vaccines that we take commonly that we don’t think twice about, right? I mean, even before you can start school you have to have all these various vaccinations. This is just another vaccine the way I look at it.”
While COVID-19 will be here for the long run, only time will tell when normalcy can return. For Dr. Hasfurther, that may never come back, but that unknown of what’s next will strengthen his passion for helping others. “It’s never the same thing for us. That’s what I enjoy.”
