What’s worse than COVID-19? Stroke or heart attack. ERs are safe if you have symptoms
Emergency room doctors and first responders across Dallas-Fort Worth have an urgent message for you: If you’re showing signs of a major health crisis, such as heart attack or stroke, go to the hospital or call 911.
Don’t worry about catching the coronavirus. Don’t fret that doctors and nurses are already overwhelmed with the pandemic. Don’t wait. Just go.
It could be the difference between life and death.
Stories about the steep decline in emergency responses began to emerge not long after stay-at-home orders took hold in March. And while calls for emergency assistance and non-virus ER visits are creeping back toward normal levels, too many people are still delaying needed treatment, at great cost to their health.
Emergency responders around the country saw huge increases in the number of cardiac-arrest patients who died on the scene. In July, MedStar found, people with heart attack symptoms were waiting even longer to call for help than in March and April. And many patients refuse transport to a hospital over virus fears.
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“By time they would call, there’s nothing we could do,”said Matt Zavadsky, a spokesperson for MedStar, which provides emergency response to Fort Worth and more than a dozen other local cities.
ER doctors note that hospitals are equipped, and workers are trained, to deal with infectious diseases. Several local physicians who are members of the Texas College of Emergency Physicians told us recently that they know of no one who has caught COVID-19 from a hospital visit.
“The odds of getting it in a healthcare setting are very low,” said Dr. Robert Hancock, the group’s president. “We’re not seeing tons of doctors and nurses get sick.”
Added Dr. Heidi Knowles of John Peter Smith Hospital: “It’s the cleanest our ER has ever been. We have no reports of people getting sick” from a visit.
Nor are hospitals overrun with cases. When the pandemic hit, the oft-repeated mantra was that shutting down would prevent the healthcare system from being overrun. People wanted to do their part. It’s worked: While the spread of COVID-19 cases remains too high for public health officials to be comfortable, hospitals aren’t overwhelmed.
Sadly, too many doctors now have horror stories of delayed care. A patient with stroke symptoms who waited three days to seek help and suffered paralysis that might have been prevented. Another who didn’t see his doctor to get medication for high blood pressure refilled and incurred kidney damage. And so many heart attacks that were much worse than they had to be.
The doctors would like to see hospital groups, public health officials, and local and state leaders amplify their message about patients not letting fear keep them the treatment they need.
“This is not the time to try to care for issues at home,” said Dr. Justin Fairless, who is affiliated with Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital.
These experts also want you to know some basic facts about the pandemic: Masks are working. The conspiracy theories about the virus are flat wrong. “Take the politics out of it,” Knowles said.
Most of all, though, doctors, nurses and EMTs want to help save lives.
“Don’t be scared to death. That’s our mantra,” Zavadsky said. “Call 911 or go to the hospital.”