COVID-19 patient thanks UCLA medical team that saved her life

Blanca Lopez, 47, walked slowly through the gleaming lobby ofRonald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, her brown eyes huge over her mask. Her teenage son, Criztiaan, pointed out landmarks where he used to wait for physicians ’ updates on his mother’s condition during her COVID-19 hospitalization.None of it looked familiar.Outside a dozen health care workers huddled in the January night air after a 12-hour shift. Despite the late hour, the mood was festive. The doctors, nurses and therapists chattered with excitement, their masked faces animated in the warm glow of the courtyard ’s illuminated fountains.When Lopez, radiant in a leopard-print vest, exited the hospital doors, the group ’s anticipation exploded into a joyful welcome.TheLos Angeles Times captured Lopez ’s emotional reunion, which provided a rare spot of brightness for UCLA medical staff after a grim year of death and pandemic darkness.The front-page story chronicled Lopez ’s life-saving treatment with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, orECMO. The state-of-the-art technology filters the blood of critically ill patients, providing a reprieve to hearts and lungs failing from COVID-19 or other diseases.UCLA Health oversees the largest adult ECMO program on the West Coast, treating up to 160 people per year. With the only ECMO ambulance in the region, UCLA ’s mobile team regularly stabilizes and transports patients from every hospital in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.“Blanca is a ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news