Rick Sacra, MD, discussing his first memories as a patient in the NBU
Item
Title
Rick Sacra, MD, discussing his first memories as a patient in the NBU
Date
November 2023
Description
Yeah, well, I do remember actually my first memory, my first real memory of the NBU was them—well, I think I do have a vague memory of them starting a central line in my neck, but other than that my main first memory is them explaining to me the experimental drugs, TKM Ebola, which I ended up receiving and going over the monkey data with me. I remember somebody explaining to me the experiments that 24 monkeys had been exposed to Ebola and 12 received a sham injection and 12 received this drug. All the 12 who received the drug survived and all the 12 who didn't died, would I like to get it? I said, [laughs] “Sure, sign me up,” and I was quite with it for that conversation and signed it. Then I think I relapsed into some confusion again, maybe a little ICU psychosis or whatever after that, and then when Debbie arrived, they were like, “Well, Rick, signed this paperwork, but we're not sure he was really fully with it.” But I remember it. I remember that clear as day. I was fine for that conversation, but then later I think I got a little confused again.
I had my little notebook with me. I had the pages out of my little notebook with me with my temperature curve in it. I got to show that to the docs. We talked about incubation periods and when I might have been exposed and all those different things. They were very—the main one I was interacting with was Phil Smith. I think Dr. Hewlett was always there every day, but she was out at the desk kind of doing the orders and the paperwork, and Dr. Smith would come in the room, and then they had an approach that said, “Look, we want to minimize the number of people who have to be exposed, who have to take the risk, the patient care risk.” There really weren't—there was really, at any time, there was like one nursing staff person who would come in on a shift, and then every day I'd see Dr. Smith, and that was really the main in person interactions I had. But no, Dr. Smith was great, and he always was—he brought that up even during that first week. “Hey, you're a doctor, we'd like to learn from you. What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” He was asking me questions about our protocols in Liberia and what resources we had. Realizing that a place like the center in Nebraska is going to have all the bells and whistles, whereas the places where I was working where we were working in West Africa with—so he was trying to think through, “Okay, what would you do, how would you do the equivalent of what we're doing but over there where you have so much less in terms of resources?” So there was lots of good dialogue. I don't know if we made any earth-shattering discoveries, but no, it was very collegial and that was neat to have that kind of interaction every day.
I had my little notebook with me. I had the pages out of my little notebook with me with my temperature curve in it. I got to show that to the docs. We talked about incubation periods and when I might have been exposed and all those different things. They were very—the main one I was interacting with was Phil Smith. I think Dr. Hewlett was always there every day, but she was out at the desk kind of doing the orders and the paperwork, and Dr. Smith would come in the room, and then they had an approach that said, “Look, we want to minimize the number of people who have to be exposed, who have to take the risk, the patient care risk.” There really weren't—there was really, at any time, there was like one nursing staff person who would come in on a shift, and then every day I'd see Dr. Smith, and that was really the main in person interactions I had. But no, Dr. Smith was great, and he always was—he brought that up even during that first week. “Hey, you're a doctor, we'd like to learn from you. What do you think about this? What do you think about that?” He was asking me questions about our protocols in Liberia and what resources we had. Realizing that a place like the center in Nebraska is going to have all the bells and whistles, whereas the places where I was working where we were working in West Africa with—so he was trying to think through, “Okay, what would you do, how would you do the equivalent of what we're doing but over there where you have so much less in terms of resources?” So there was lots of good dialogue. I don't know if we made any earth-shattering discoveries, but no, it was very collegial and that was neat to have that kind of interaction every day.
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From the McGoogan Health Sciences Library Special Collections and Archives