TUESDAY June 16, 2020: LAST RESORT Against COVID19 by San Antonio Express News top award winning photographer Bob Owen. 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, staff Express News photojournalist for 37 years, primarily covering social issues, with Express News medical reporter Lauren Caruba spent 18 hours reporting in the COVID19 intensive care unit at Northeast Baptist Hospital. Over the course of 2 overnight late shifts in May, they observed doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists as they cared for the most critically ill patients. Giving a rare indepth view of pandemic impact and the LAST RESORT for many.
© zReportage.com Story of the Week #741: TUESDAY June 16, 2020: LAST RESORT Against COVID19 by San Antonio Express News top award winning photographer Bob Owen. 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, staff Express News photojournalist for 37 years, primarily covering social issues, with Express News medical reporter Lauren Caruba spent 18 hours reporting in the COVID19 intensive care unit at Northeast Baptist Hospital. Over the course of 2 overnight late shifts in May, they observed doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists as they cared for the most critically ill patients. Giving a rare indepth view of pandemic impact and the LAST RESORT for many.

Nurse KERI GINGER suits up to assist intubation of a patient in Methodist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

A Methodist Hospital Covid19 Unit nurse, right, carefully wipes down a doctor after a procedure on a patient with the virus.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Nurse KERI GINGER, left, and Dr. CHARLES BURCH talk about the intubation of a patient at Methodist Hospital Covid19 Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. JEFF DELLAVOLPE gives a thumbs up to doctors and nurses performing an intubation on a patient in Methodist Hospital Covid Unit which is using ECMO that helps patients by filtering oxygen into their blood.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON, left, with lines on her face from her mask checks a patient's stats with nurse MELISSA DEMARCHI at the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Wearing protective suits and masks, Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON, left, and two nurses rush a covid patient to the Covid Unit at the Northeast Baptist Hospital.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON, right, waits as nurses prepare a covid patient for a procedure at the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Finished with one procedure on a covid patient, Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON heads to another patient at the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

ALEXSANDRA MORALES, a nurse in the Methodist Hospital Covid19 Unit watches intensely as doctors work on a patient.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON removes her gloves after performing a procedure on a covid19 positive patient at the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Nurse KERI GINGER, left, and Dr. CHARLES BURCH, center, and a nurse wait to intubate a patient at Methodist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. CHARLES BURCH, left, face times with family members as nurse LAUREN WALTERS explains the intubation process to a patient in the Methodist Hospital Covid Unit. The machine at right is a ECMO.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Nurse LAUREN WALTERS, center, talks with Dr. CHARLES BURCH, left, before performing intubation on a patient in the Methodist Hospital Covid19 Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

The message 'Good Job' was written by Dr. Jeff DellaVolpe on the glass door to doctors and nurses performing an intubation on a patient in the Methodist Hospital Covid Unit which is using ECMO that helps patients by filtering oxygen into their blood.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

Dr. TAMARA SIMPSON, tired and sweaty, takes off the air pack to the protective hood she wears, before heading to another patient in the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

After a covid patient was wheeled to a room the Environmental Services team disinfected the pathway that was taken at the Northeast Baptist Hospital Covid Unit.
© Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

PAUL WILSON and his wife DORA WILSON are both recovering from Covid-19 symptoms. Their son Nick, 30 is currently hospitalized with symptoms of the virus. At just 30, Nick Wilson was so sick with the coronavirus that even a ventilator wasn't enough. His doctors had to improvise with an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, the lungs are removed from the equation. Machine removes blood from the body and oxygenates it directly before returning it. Under the right conditions, it allows doctors to hit the pause button, giving a patient's organs time to rest and recover.
© Robin Jerstad/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire

NICK WILSON peers out the window of his bedroom where he is confined while he fully recovers from a nearly fatal bout with Covid-19 earlier earlier this month.
© Tom Reel/San Antonio Express-News via ZUMA Wire