{"id":49243,"date":"2020-05-21T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T10:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=49243"},"modified":"2020-05-20T16:37:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T20:37:18","slug":"avoiding-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/05\/avoiding-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An unintended consequence of the coronavirus measures:\u00a0 Many Americans are avoiding emergency rooms and other health care facilities\u2013even when they need it.<\/p>\n

Remember the early days of the epidemic?\u00a0 We were told not to go to emergency rooms.\u00a0 To postpone non-nonessential medical procedures.\u00a0 We were given the impression that hospitals were especially dangerous, packed full with COVID-19 patients.\u00a0 Even the doctors and nurses were risking their lives, since they didn\u2019t have any masks or other protective equipment.<\/p>\n

The expectation was that our medical system would be overwhelmed with the epidemic, which had to be given the priority over every other health problem.\u00a0 Except for a few places, this did not happen.\u00a0 But the public got the message to stay away from hospitals.<\/p>\n

\n

Emergency room visits have plummeted as much as 50%.\u00a0 Many of the people who go to emergency rooms do so because they think\u2013often correctly\u2013that they have had a heart attack or stroke.\u00a0 These people need to be diagnosed quickly, even if the acute condition goes away.\u00a0 Without either emergency treatment or long-term care, they will die.\u00a0 But large numbers of these folks, whether out of fear of catching the coronavirus or a public-spirited desire not to burden the medical system with their problems, are going without medical care.<\/p>\n

Similarly, many people whose cancer screening tests were canceled as \u201cnon-essential\u201d are not rescheduling them!<\/p>\n

It is being said that more people may be dying from avoiding health care than are being killed by the virus.<\/p>\n

Some observers note the overall rise in the number of deaths the last few months, compared to other time frames.\u00a0 Such data makes them think that the death rate from the coronavirus is much higher than the current statistics show.\u00a0 But how many of those extra deaths are due to the coronavirus and how many are due to the measures against the coronavirus, as people avoid getting the health care they need?<\/p>\n

Here is a local story on the topic, with references to the bigger picture.\u00a0 From Chris Casteel in the Daily Oklahoman<\/em>, Coronavirus fears causing some people to avoid needed medical care, hospital leaders say<\/a>\u00a0[my bolds]:<\/p>\n

Oklahomans worried about coming in contact with the coronavirus have been avoiding hospital emergency rooms and other health care facilities, sometimes even after suffering heart attacks and strokes,<\/strong> local hospital leaders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we worry is that people dying from other problems is likely greater than the number that have COVID,\u201d<\/strong> said Dr. John Harvey, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cOur statistics on overall visits to emergency rooms \u2014 for many weeks it was well under 50% of the normal volume, if not less (and) significantly fewer heart attack and stroke victims even than that number,\u201d<\/strong> said Dr. Kevin L. Lewis, regional president and CEO of SSM Health Medical Group. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that surprised us \u2014 and this has been shown nationally and is playing out everywhere \u2014 was that once people started showing up with COVID, I think people that were sick with other illnesses decided that emergency rooms were too risky to go to,\u201d<\/strong> Harvey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen nationally there\u2019s anywhere from a 10% to 40% decline in people that present to the hospital with heart attacks, strokes, seizures \u2014 pretty much you name it, even cancer.<\/strong>\u201d. . .<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing people delay care who are now presenting to the emergency department much, much sicker than they needed to be or would have been had they come weeks ago,\u201d<\/strong> Ibrahim said. . . .<\/p>\n

Lewis said he was also concerned about people not rescheduling cancer screening procedures that were canceled due to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a scenario where permanent damage could occur if somebody didn\u2019t get right back into the scheduled screening procedure because we will have missed an opportunity for early diagnosis and treatment, which saves lives in some of those really dangerous cancers,\u201d he said. . . .<\/p>\n

Physicians and public health officials likely contributed to some of the reluctance to engage with the health care system. When community spread of the coronavirus began in Oklahoma, people were told not to go to hospital emergency rooms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis said the warning about emergency rooms was aimed at people with flu-like symptoms but was apparently interpreted by some to include all conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was well intended but I think it contributed to where we are now,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cBecause if you\u2019re not a person in health care, how are you going to know the difference?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, since people with underlying conditions such as heart disease are more likely to die if they contract COVID-19, they are more likely to fear exposure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: \u201cEmergency Room.\u201d RSU. Manado Medical Center \/ CC BY-SA (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0) via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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