By ERIC SEIVERLING
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been taking its toll on those infected with the virus and their family members, the outbreak has had an additional impact on those who haven’t come in direct contact with the disease.
According to local doctors and emergency services, the virus is causing people to avoid calling 911 or going to the emergency room when they have a non-coronavirus related medical emergency for fear of contracting the virus or being a distraction to doctors and nurses.
And doctors and EMT personnel say nothing could be further from the truth.
“They think hospitals are ground zero right now for COVID patients,” said Rostraver West Newton Emergency Services Director of Operations Michael Stangroom. “But hospitals are probably the cleanest, safest places you can go to right now.”
Stangroom said emergency calls to his EMS service that involve people who have waited too long to receive help — also known as “DOA calls” — have tripled since early March.
“We’re seeing a huge spike in those calls,” he said. “The patients are much sicker because they’ve waited four or five days to call us where normally they might call us in a day or two.”
Stangroom isn’t alone in his observations.
Pleasant Hills, Baldwin, West Mifflin Paramedic Rescue Chief Todd Plunkett said although he doesn’t have any statistics to prove his theory, “My gut feeling is the number of DOA calls seem to be increasing.”
“What we’re seeing is a decrease in emergency calls by about 29%,” Plunkett said. “But what we’re seeing is people who are calling for EMS are delayed and getting sicker. They’re letting those chronic conditions get worse.
“All my colleagues are seeing the very same thing: sicker patients and people saying they were simply scared. When people were told to hunker down, they really hunkered down. That’s OK, but the medical problems don’t go away.”
Plunkett said 75% of his EMS patients are transported to AHN’s Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, and doctors there are also seeing the alarming trend of people avoiding medical help.
Amish Mehta, M.D., director of cardiac imaging at Jefferson Hospital, said people over the age of 65 are in the high-risk group and should not delay seeking medical help.
“From a cardiac standpoint, people are definitely waiting longer before they contact their doctor or come to the hospital because of their fears,” Mehta said. “When they do get to the hospital, it’s been several days instead of a couple days.
They will say ‘I was worried to come to the hospital.’ They’re more distressed and their severity index is greater than it should have been.”
Mehta said common results of a heart attack victim delaying medical treatment include lower oxygen levels, increased fluid buildup, a hole in the heart and death.
Mehta, Stangroom and Plunkett said common conditions they’re seeing on delayed emergency calls include COPD, heart-related issues, diabetes and infections.
They want the public to know that doctors’ offices, hospitals and ambulances are better equipped to fight coronavirus than compared to only two months ago.
“Ambulances are cleaned after every single call,” Plunkett said. “The procedures are very, very good. The hospitals and ambulances are all comfortable with the ‘new normal.’ The hospitals are prepared and properly staffed. The health care system is not broken.”
“Don’t get caught up in the hysteria,” Stangroom added. “We reassure people that hospitals are clean and safe and they’re doing an amazing job.”
In his 17 years as a cardiologist, Mehta said he’s never seen anything like the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the public.
“This is certainly the biggest extreme we’re seeing here,” he said. “This is hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime medical problem.”