People with critical conditions are avoiding hospitals
WATERLOO REGION — A Cambridge cardiologist is worried that people suffering serious heart problems are staying away from hospital due to COVID-19 worries.
“People have become so fearful of this infection that they’re allowing other parts of their health to deteriorate,” said Dr. Shekhar Pandey.
He’s seeing patients in the emergency department who are in critical condition because they’ve delayed seeking care — a serious situation that hasn’t happened in decades because of continued public education efforts that stress the importance of getting help immediately for heart attack or stroke because every minute counts.
“I think some of that’s been lost in this pandemic,” Pandey said. “People are presenting late or not at all.”
New data collected by Heart & Stroke and Canadian Cardiovascular Society confirmed what health professionals across Canada have seen during the pandemic; an unexplained drop in hospital visits for serious health issues such as heart attack and stroke.
Cardiac centres in Ontario reveal close to a 30 per cent reduction in visits to the emergency department between March 16 to April 12 due to STEMIs (the most serious type of heart attack), compared to the same period last year.
St. Mary’s General Hospital has not noticed a change in STEMI numbers compared to this time last year. The Kitchener hospital sees an average 32 STEMIs monthly, compared to 31 in April.
As the region’s cardiac centre, St. Mary’s follows a bypass protocol where patients experiencing a serious heart attack are taken directly by paramedics from the field or other hospitals, which means not as many come from the emergency department.
In mid-April, emergency doctors at St. Mary’s and Grand River Hospital began offering virtual visits out of concern that the number of patients coming to emerg in general had significantly declined. While not intended for life-threatening emergencies, doctors found a few people requesting virtual visits were actually experiencing heart attack symptoms.
“St. Mary’s urges anyone experiencing heart attack symptoms to call 911 right away so that they can be assessed and transported quickly for care. Time is of the essence to limit heart damage and save lives,” Leisa Faulkner, acting vice-president of patient services and chief nursing executive, said in a statement.
Pandey said people shouldn’t hesitate to seek care when it’s needed. Hospitals and doctors’ offices have new protocols in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19, including offering virtual care when appropriate.
He does virtual consultations every day for his patients, but then certain situations require being seen in person. Some have refused to come into his office when asked, even with precautions in place.
Pandey was recently called to hospital to see a middle-aged man who was in a critical state. His heart attack probably started 12 days before he came to the ER, even though he knew the warning signs.
“Social distance when you’re fine. But if you’re having a serious event, don’t ignore that,” Pandey said.
Cardiologists were bracing for a flood of serious heart issues during the pandemic because usually there’s a surge when viruses like the flu are circulating since people with underlying cardiovascular issues are especially vulnerable.
“Volumes are down significantly and it doesn’t make sense for it to be down. Heart disease rates don’t suddenly drop,” Pandey said.