'IN A HOLDING PATTERN'
Patt's patient Helen Knost had to put off surgery for breast cancer in early spring because it was considered non-emergency in Texas and barred at the time, and she was treated instead with the medication Tamoxifen.
"It's very strange to know you have cancer and you're just hanging out with it, just in a holding pattern," said Knost, who did ultimately undergo successful surgery.
In California, doctors at the 150-bed Adventist Lodi Memorial Hospital in the San Joaquin Valley breadbasket were determined that a second surge in coronavirus cases would not bring a repeat of the pandemic's early days, when emergency room visits dropped in half. Emergency medical technicians also reported a 45% rise in the number of heart patients who died before they could be brought to the hospital. Hospital CEO Daniel Wolcott led a campaign to inform the community that the medical center was open and safe, even speaking to people about it in the grocery store.
But with new COVID-19 cases swamping the hospital, sickening nearly 30 staff members and forcing it to divert non-coronavirus cases to other facilities for several days, Wolcott fears that again patients with heart conditions and other illnesses will stay away.
"We won't know for years how many people lost their lives or lost good years of their lives for fear of coronavirus," he said.
