LEBANON – Unvaccinated patients continue to overwhelm intensive care units (ICUs) across the country, fueling frustration among frontline workers. Locally, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) staff are managing a preventable surge and pleading for the community to get vaccinated.

“We’ve got to wake up, America,” said Edward J. Merrens, MD, chief clinical officer at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health. “This is preventable, and all the work that we’re doing here and all the care that we’re doing, the vast majority of it is preventable. If people got vaccinated, not just for themselves, but for younger children that can’t get vaccinated and immunocompromised people that may not be able to – this is really important. This is now at a point where it is a surge and a crisis that we can prevent for the vast majority of people.”

Claremont, New Hampshire, resident Fred Rutherford is amplifying the pro-vaccination movement. As an unvaccinated patient, he knows firsthand the life-saving measures that were needed to save his life.

“A lot of people in the world today are not taking this serious,” Rutherford shared from his bed in the ICU at DHMC. “I will do anything I can to be the voice of people that don’t understand you’ve got to get vaccinated. You’ve got to get it done to protect each other.”

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/XB9ymOgrd9w.

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