Parkview Health urges community to seek emergency care despite fear of COVID-19

Parkview Health reported a 50% decrease in emergency room visits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Anxiety surrounding covid-19 has lead to some people avoiding hospitals while putting their health concerns on hold.fox 55's jeremy masukevich tells us why this has resulted in a decrease in emergency room patients, but an increase in severe symptoms. trt: nat gutwein 27:47you're just as safe going to the emergency department or the hospital today as you would be going to the grocery store.healthcare providers with parkview health say emergency room visits have declined 50 percent since the start of the covid19 pandemic.

Sot gutwein 24:05what that has led to is people who have stroke-like symptoms or strokes that are not presenting for 3 or 4 days or patients that have chest pain that hold off for days or hours beyond the time that they need to come to the hospital.doctor thomas gutwein says by putting off health concerns patients are making themselves vulnerable to long-term health issues.and by the time they do arrive in the er their symptoms are severe sot gutwein 25:31my message to them would be if you have shortness of breath, whether it be chest pain, and you put those symptoms off it's just going to delay the appropriate care you need.

You may cause irreversible damage.parkview says the decrease in er patients has not lead to any cuts in staffgutwein says they've moved er personnel to help with covid-19 patients.

Sot gutwein 26:35because of covid-19, because we have to put on more protective gear, we have actually added staff to areas that we never added staff before.for instance staff members from surgery or other departments not seeing as much action have transitioned into 'spotter' roles nat gutwein 27:12there is a high risk of being contaminated when you are taking your contaminated gear off your gowns, gloves, and those type of things.

So having a spotter actually helps quite a bit.parkview is screening each person who comes into a care facility and providing masks once they are inside.they're also placing patients in single rooms and doing extra cleaning.sot gutwein 27:36if you worry about coming to the hospital, or worry about coming to the er to catch covid-19 that's not going to be a thing.

We are 100 percent safe with keeping people away from each other.in fort wayne, jeremy masukevich, fox 55 news we reached out to several other northeast indiana health care providers but were unable to determine if they were seeing a similar trend in emergency