GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — With COVID-19 the main focus of the healthcare world, doctors have noticed a decline in patients coming to the emergency room for various things.
“We can prevent a bad outcome, or a catastrophic outcome, if we address symptoms early on in disease,” President, Mercy Health Physician's Partners, Dr. Kristen Brown said.
Mercy Health Dr. Kristen Brown says people aren't going to the ER for things like heart attacks and strokes, among other illnesses.
“For example, abdominal pain. Whether people have an infected gull bladder, appendicitis, or an infected colon, sometime they’re ignoring or delaying care for those symptoms,” Dr. Brown said.
Brown says the hospital is safe, and just because your physician's office is closed doesn't mean they aren't there.
The phone lines are being manned and they want people to get the care they need. Dr. Brown says waiting just makes things worse.
“Something that we could have prevented in the beginning, if we had addressed with earlier symptoms,” Brown said.
