Patients Suffering Non-COVID-19 Emergencies, Such as Heart Attacks or Strokes, Should Not Delay Care and Still Visit ER
(Chino Valley, Calif., April 16, 2020) – Ensuring safe access to emergency medical care continues to be important, even during a pandemic. Prime hospitals are available to serve emergency needs for both COVID and non-COVID-related issues. Patients should not delay care when needed, especially for conditions where early diagnosis and treatment can be lifesaving, such as heart attack and stroke. This is a public service message to communities and patients to continue to seek care in your local emergency room for non-COVID conditions when needed and our emergency rooms and physicians remain ready to care for you.
Recent trends suggest that patients are not seeking care for emergencies and delays in diagnosis are leading to poor outcomes. Stay-at-home orders issued by public health agencies make exceptions for those in need of emergency medical treatments. Signs or symptoms of medical emergencies should not be ignored. Those experiencing signs of a heart attack or strokes, such as chest pain or sudden muscle weakness, should still call 911 or visit the emergency room immediately.
“Our Emergency Department remains open, safe, and ready to serve patients and our community, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week,” said Dr. Jose Diaz, Emergency Department Medical Director of Chino Valley Medical Center, who added that the hospital is concerned that some people might ignore danger signs and postpone trips to the ER for fear of being exposed to the coronavirus. “We are well prepared to handle non-COVID emergencies as well as able to deal with an influx of potential COVID-19 cases, and are following all state, local, and federal guidelines to safeguard our staff and other patients from exposure.”
Chino Valley Medical Center is prepared for today, preparing for tomorrow, and sharing information to keep our patients and caregivers safe. The hospital is nationally recognized for several awards for its services including Healthgrades Five-Star for Hip Fracture Treatment, Gallbladder Surgery, Treatment of Heart failure, and Appendectomy; Healthgrades Excellence Award since 2015; Nation’s Top 100 Hospitals, Geriatric Emergency Department from the American College of Emergency Physicians; and Five-Star Quality Rating from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Furthermore, extra protections have been put in place for screening patients before they enter the ER, to ensure they don’t have a fever, or symptoms of COVID in an effort to expedite treatment of care.
Those experiencing mild flu-like symptoms should consult with their primary care physician while taking precautions to self-isolate and limit contact with family members while at home. If symptoms worsen, however – including a consistent cough and fever — visit an emergency room as soon as possible.
Information on the potential warning signs of a heart attack can be found here: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/warning-signs-of-a-heart-attack. For signs of a stroke, visit https://www.stroke.org/en/about-stroke/stroke-symptoms.
About Chino Valley Medical Center
A member of Prime Healthcare, Chino Valley Medical Center is a 112-bed community hospital established in 1972 and centrally located in Southern California’s Chino Valley. A five-time recipient of the Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award (2014-2018), Chino Valley Medical Center has been recognized nationally for its quality, including as among the 100 Great Community Hospitals by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2018 and as among the 100 Top Hospitals by IBM Watson Health. Chino Valley Medical Center is committed to serving the community’s health care needs with top-rated emergency care as well as senior services, orthopedics, surgical services, and more. Learn more at www.cvmc.com.