Long term effects of being on a ventilator

so tonight while covid cases and hospitalizations are declining across the u.s north carolina is among eight states reporting 15 percent or fewer icu beds are available right now putting strain on the hospital system those numbers indicate the fight against the covet 19 pandemic is far from over and tonight we're hearing firsthand from local doctor about the difficult decision to put covet patient on ventilator you have to take moment of pause and wonder will this be their last breath that they'll see somebody will this be their last meal that they wanna just had will that be the last time they see their family members with their own eyes in without breathing two then you do wonder about it because the mortality is high serious questions there when covet patient's lungs are so damaged by the virus they can't breathe on their own doctors put them on ventilator the machine supports their body and helps them breathe until they're strong enough to do it themselves new here at six wcnc charlotte's chloe lesner is at atrium health with the long-term effects of being on ventilator and has local woman's experience doctors say putting someone on ventilator is necessary medical procedure but being on it for an extended period of time can cause complications tara jones was intubated for more than three weeks she wasn't sure she'd survive the moments before doctors intubated tara jones are ones she'll never forget facetiming her husband and four children knowing her odds of seeing them again were slim was pretty sure that's going to be the last words spoke to them she spent 24 days on the ventilator and says she had horrible nightmares feelings of panic and paranoia know that they would bring me in and out of consciousness to see if they could win me off the ventilator and could remember some of that and thinking that they were trying to kill me dr jaspal singh is pulmonary critical care specialist at atrium health he tells his patients they don't want to see him in the icu being put on ventilator often last resort in copic those patients can oftentimes be on ventilator for days to weeks and sometimes even months and so that comes at significant cost to their health someone who's on life support for long period of time will often get infections blood clots or pneumonia after coming off they can have trouble eating sleeping or walking even those who survive i've had so many patients and families tell me they're not the same people tara's life is changed immediately after being taken off the ventilator she suffered severe memory loss and couldn't talk or write she still struggles to breathe one of her vocal cords is paralyzed because she tried to pull out her breathing tube especially if feel like i'm getting short of breath and lot of that has to my microwarts but still it causes me to panic doctors say 98 percent of the people on the ventilator right now are unvaccinated they say you want to avoid being intubated and getting shot is an easy and safe way to do that at atrium health chloe lushner wcnc charlotte