If people are ill, in pain, or think something may be wrong with your health – related or unrelated to COVID-19 – they should call a doctor or, if need be, get to a hospital emergency department. If an individual or their family member or friend is having a mental health or substance use disorder issue, they should call a doctor or counselor or, if need be, get to a hospital ED. People who harm themselves through, say, a fall or kitchen accident, should get to an ED ASAP.
The healthcare system correctly curtailed non-essential surgeries and care at the outbreak of the crisis to free up room in hospitals in anticipation of the surge. People rightly deferred care to let the system respond. But those deferred health problems didn’t disappear. A person who, for example, put off joint surgery a month ago may be now in such debilitating pain that it’s affecting mobility and compounding other problems. Some people even may have had minor strokes or heart problems and are now at home afraid to seek care. The concern is that when people return to seek care their situations will have worsened.
Hospitals this week
began an ad campaign to stress the need for people to visit EDs if needed. Hospitals are doing heroic work with COVID-19 patients but there’s a dual track available for non COVID-19 care.
As Dr. Michael Apkon, president & CEO of Tufts Medical Center, said at the governor’s press conference last Thursday, “We understand the fear people have. But what we want people to
know is that we’re keeping people safe at the hospital.”
Dr. Gregg Meyer of Newton-Wellesley Hospital and Partners HealthCare said, “Let me assure you: Massachusetts hospitals are open for business.” And Nancy Shendell-Falik, R.N., president of Baystate Medical Center, informed the public that “chronic care and chronic diseases do not wait for this pandemic to subside.”