How many of my readers were subjected to the “scare the new drivers” film when they took Driver Ed? Maybe they don’t do that any more? Here, let me describe:
They show scenes of accidents. Here’s the dude who fell asleep while piloting a rig full of sewer pipes. When he hit the tree, the rig folded up, but the pipe just speared him in the head. Yeah, quite a mess. Too bad, he was only twenty-one.
Or this one, where someone was chatting too much and ran a stop sign. Hit by the SUV, both vehicles burst into flames and, hey, here’s the roasty-toasty corpses! Man, that’s gross.
Followed by an interview with a state trooper, sobbing over the baby he found in the water-filled ditch next to the wrecked station wagon. The baby was dead, of course.
Horrific. I’m not sure if they were effective, but then I can’t imagine they’d run an active study on that sort of thing.
So?
Consider this:
… in many regions of the country, including the Southeast where I live, up to two-thirds of the population chose not to protect themselves. I’ve heard all the reasons: “The vaccines are experimental.” “I am young and healthy; I don’t need the vaccine.” “So what if I get covid?” “The epidemic is over.” “The vaccine will destroy my fertility.” “The vaccine is a government plot.” “I have the freedom to choose.” “Nobody can tell me what to do.” “The doctors are lying to me.”
Like most of my fellow health-care workers, these comments stunned and stung me. We had spent a year fighting a raging pandemic. We suspended activities in our usual disciplines of medical care, rolled up our sleeves and provided care to the more than 30 million people who showed up in our ERs, clinics and hospitals. Covid was more than disruptive; it was exhausting. Most of us survived. But we were also fatigued and battle-worn. [Dr. Michael Saag in WaPo]
I think it’s time to use the tools of today to bring it all home.
Suspend patient privacy laws temporarily. Yeah, hard to do, but necessary.
Put webcams in the ERs and ICUs. Let them run 24/7. Feed the stream to a cable and/or broadcast channel. No censorship, , no blurring faces, no “this is too awful to show,” show it all. Show intubation, the frantic gasping for breath, the living, the dying. Show how the pressure is increasing on the hospitals.
Have a documentarian interview doctors, nurses, patients, and the relatives and friends of the deceased. Don’t hold back – sob over your lost wife, your sick child, your burned out colleagues. Don’t mince words. If you want to strangle the halfwits who think this is all a hoax, say it. This is not the time for diplomacy.
With today’s technology such interviews can be conducted and edited within hours by a dedicated team. Dump them on the feed.
Have local politicians visit the ICU. If you’re lucky, they’ll have a weak stomach and throw up on camera. For those who think this is all a hoax, the politician will change minds.
Some people – too many people – don’t trust government. Some remember Vietnam, others have been influenced by specious anti-government propaganda. This is the time when the medical profession, from doctors to medical systems, have to reach out and not politely ask people to take the vaccination, but yell as loudly as possible, You’re wrecking us by your intransigence, and if we’re wrecked, you will, in turn, be screwed. Knock it off and roll up your goddamn sleeves.
It may not work, but at least you’ll have tried using a different tool than before.
