ROANOKE, Va. – As the coronavirus pandemic slows down, doctors are dealing with an increase in patients for other causes.
When the coronavirus took center stage at the beginning of the pandemic, other healthcare needs for many took a backseat.
“We didn’t have many patients coming into the offices at all,” said Dr. Michael Jeremiah, chair of family and community medicine at Carilion.
Changing protocols and growing fears kept many away. Some patients put off management for chronic conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.
“These changes that are happening for their health are going to be impacting them both in the short run and potentially in the long run,” Jeremiah said.
Others delayed critically important preventative care like colonoscopies or mammograms.
“I think we probably went down to 80 to 90% less than normal. I mean it was crazy,” said Catherine Hagan, breast nurse specialist at Carilion. “It’s so important to find these things out and if we can find breast cancers under a centimeter, we can cure them.”
Now, doctors are seeing a return to pre-pandemic volumes and the consequences of those delays. In some cases, a more severe diagnosis.
“There probably were some things that did, that weren’t screened that might’ve been found earlier had they been able to come in,” Hagan said.
Now that patients are coming in, there are big backlogs for those vital screenings.
“You’re still catching up. You have so many people that are due for the screenings that we’re doing all that we can to make sure that we’re increasing capacity and are trying to make it as easy as possible to get back in,” Jeremiah said.
Working to bounce back from the pandemic with a renewed focus on health.
“We want to be able to make sure that people don’t delay any further,” Jeremiah said.