Local emergency department doctors urge the community to seek out medical help if needed – whether the issue is related to COVID-19 or not.
Dr. Abhi Mehrotra is the Medical Director of UNC Hospitals at the Hillsborough Campus and the UNC Department of Emergency Medicine in Chapel Hill. He’s responsible for clinical operations at both sites.
Mehrotra said people shouldn’t avoid hospitals and physicians’ offices out of COVID-19 fears. Especially if they have chest pains or other heart issue symptoms where it’s critical to get to an Emergency Department quickly.
“We encourage seeking care for our patients if you need it and urge you to not postpone seeking care if you would have gone to the emergency department,” Mehrotra said. “We’ve prepared with appropriate safety and physical distancing measures to provide safe care for our patients.”
He said, during the pandemic, it has been a team effort to safely care for patients as they arrive and are evaluated and treated in the emergency department.
Mehrotra said the emergency department has set up several additional safety protocols to avoid cross-contamination of the virus. When patients initially check-in, they arrive to an external tent where they begin the process of filling out paper work within their own vehicle. From there they are evaluated and dispatched to a separate area that best fits their immediate needs.
“If they have respiratory complaints they will go to our separate respiratory area of the emergency department to be evaluated. If they have other complaints such as chest pain from what could be a heart attack or some sort of trauma they will go to our main are of the emergency department so there is a physical separation that occurs there.”
Mehrotra said patients are separated in this manner for their safety and for the safety of the staff.
In addition to physical separation, all patients are given a surgical mask upon arrival and all medical professionals are wearing masks and gloves as a minimum requirement. All rooms are also cleaned extensively between patients.
In a nearby emergency department is Dr. Ryan Lamb. Lamb is the Medical Director of Emergency Medicine at UNC REX Hospital in Raleigh.
He said the two hospitals work in close collaboration with each other so their safety processes are very similar. According to Lamb, even in this COVID-19 climate, it’s important to keep taking care of your overall health.
Lamb said he thinks of healthcare in stages. The first stage is preventative care which revolves around making sure we’re not spreading illness or disease to other people, getting vaccinated, eating well and exercising – which he thinks we’re doing well at as a community.
“The next stage that we manage is chronic care,” Lamb said. “So people need their diabetes managed, their hypertension managed just to make sure they’re in the most optimal health for general life as well as in case a COVID infection occurs.”
UNC Healthcare said it’s important that follow-up and check-up appointments be kept, especially for patients who require regular blood screenings and other diagnostics.
While Lamb recognizes that some people aren’t sure if they should come in as they’re scared of contracting the virus, but he said you shouldn’t let that fear stop you from getting the help you need – and if you do need care, please don’t wait.
“We have a lot of processes to manage care in the acute setting within hours or less than a day of treatment so when people present too late we can’t stop or reverse the process that’s going to occur and unfortunately they’re going to have permanent damage as a result of waiting too long.”
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
