Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 4

Dispatch from an ICU During the Third Wave Oral and maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Marco Caminiti provides care for COVID patients Dr. Marco Caminiti Dr. Marco Caminiti is an assistant professor and program director of OMFS at the University of Toronto. He is head of OMFS at Humber River Hospital and a supporter of Face the Future Foundation Canada. He is an expert in orthognathic surgery with a research focus on surgical education. I n March, Humber River Hospital, one of the hospitals where Dr. Marco Caminiti works, sent out a call for help, and he began administering COVID vaccines. But in April, as the number of COVID patients in the hospital’s ICU increased dramatically, administrators asked all surgical staff if they could lend a hand working with some of the most critically ill patients and become physician-assistants in the ICU. “They needed to ramp up the available personnel,” Dr. Caminiti told CDA, speaking from a break room at Humber River Hospital. “It was all hands on deck.” The hospital has an ICU capacity of about 45 beds, each in an isolated room. “At the end of April, most of the beds were filled with COVID patients,” he said. He and other surgery staff volunteers assisted the ICU staff and nurses. “Tending to the patients who are on ventilators is very demanding,” he says. Patients on ventilators require intravenous medication, monitoring of vitals such as blood pressure and oxygen levels, liquid or parenteral nutrition, among other time-consuming care. “The first few days, we just helped the nurses. And now we’re able to offer one-on-one care for patients.” 30 | 2021 | Issue 4