ST. LOUIS — A phone call from doctors Saturday morning let Dennis Graham know his wife passed away.
"She was my queen," said Graham.
Juanita Graham was a preschool teacher for 19 years at Walter Ambrose in Webster Groves; she was also diabetic, making her immunocompromised.
"I got a call on Friday letting me know she wasn't accepting the treatment and that they were just going to make her comfortable. Then I got the call Saturday at 10:50 letting me know my wife passed at 10:30," said Graham.
Caring for immunocompromised COVID-19 patients like Juanita is a daily challenge for doctors like Matt Broom.
"You know it's hard," said Dr. Broom, the chief medical officer at SLU Hospital and Cardinal Glennon.
He said the biggest hurdle is making sure hospital staff have the protection they need and that the hospital has enough equipment, like ventilators, to help treat the most vulnerable patients.
"I think what we're seeing for the entire St. Louis region and nationally is a true inventory, you know how many ICU rooms do we have? How many ventilators do we have?" said Broom.
"Do you have enough right now?" 5 On Your Side's Brandon Merano asked Dr. Broom.
"I think that's the question that's hard to answer, right? I mean you've got to look at some of the reports of what that surge is and when that's going to come and where that's going to come is still unknown," answered Broom.
That leaves healthcare workers like Dr. Broom trying to come up with solutions to an ever-changing problem.
"We're making predictions that are predictably unpredictable. I feel like, well, not to take shots at weathermen, but I feel like a weatherman some days because you're trying to project on information that changes constantly," added Broom.
It's why Graham said slowing the spread is so important, to save other people like his wife.
"If you don't have to go anywhere stay home. Let it be almost an emergency if you have to go somewhere and if you do please wear a mask or stay the proper distance away, because this disease is no joke. I'm a living witness to what it can do," added Graham.