SAN ANTONIO — The pathway to healing in the University Hospital Emergency Department is up against two foes.
COVID-19 continues to bear down on the hospital and its staff, and formidably. And an outcome of providing care for those who come in with severe respiratory difficulties – turning blue from lack of oxygen – and need support from a ventilator is fear from other patients.
Emergency Medicine Chair Dr. Ralph Riviello said patients are not getting help as quickly as they should or, in some cases, not at all.
"People with stroke, heart attack, abdominal problems, even broken bones (are) waiting like a week, two weeks before they come into the emergency room because they're afraid," he said.
Riviello said that since the pandemic started in March, they've been trying to convince patients the hospital in fact poses no harm.
"The hospital is safe," he said.
But some patients don't take doctors at their word, ignore media reports about the preservation of medical protocols and dismiss public safety announcements encouraging them to seek treatment—if needed.
"If the symptoms are mild enough or they're able to function a little bit, even a little bit with their symptoms, they're deferring care for a couple of days."
Such a delay in treatment has consequences. Riviello said they diagnosed patients who tabled treatment with conditions as severe as heart attacks.
"They had complications that, had they come in sooner, they probably would have had (treatment)," he said.
The emergency medicine physician said the hospital takes precautions, staff members wear PPE and everyone washes their hands.
"It's very safe," he said.