WADESBORO — Atrium Health Anson is encouraging the public to continue to seek medical attention for non-COVID-19 related matters after seeing a recent trend of people avoiding hospitalization out of fear of contracting the virus.
“I do want to emphasize people should come if they think they’re having an emergency because we can keep everyone safe,” said Dr. Rachel Shemtov of Atrium. “I think from what we’ve been seeing, a lot of people have been riding it out.”
Those who are unsure if their symptoms warrant an emergency are encouraged to call the Atrium Coronavirus hotline at 704-512-5700. Patients will be told they might need to go directly to the emergency room if they have certain symptoms, if they could just do telehealth, or if they should try and manage their symptoms at home.
Every patient that checks in to Atrium Health Anson will get their temperature taken and receive a mask, no matter what their complaint is. Patients displaying COVID-19 symptoms, such as a fever, will be automatically taken to the part of the emergency department specifically allocated for that.
“If there’s a lot of concern, we automatically put them under precautions until we see what’s happening and make further decisions,” explained Shemtov.
“Anytime we go into a patient’s room, we wear the N95 masks which protect us from aerosol,” said Shemtov. “The N95 masks protect at an even a higher level than we think COVID-19 requires. We think the virus is spread by droplets, it’s not airborne. But, we wear masks that would protect us even if the virus was transmitted that way.”
Trained in New York, Dr. Rachel Shemtov has worked at Atrium Health Anson since they opened the doors to their new facility in 2014. She is now one of the countless healthcare professionals serving on the frontlines in the war against COVID-19.
In addition to the patients and healthcare providers, all hospital workers, such as food service and front desk employees, are required to wear a mask at all times. “Beyond the fact that we’re all wearing masks,” said Shemtov, “if the patients have complaints other than respiratory or viral illness, we do everything the same way.”
Concerns over COVID-19 doesn’t end for healthcare workers when they leave the facility.
“When people go home, they’re just coping like everyone else does,” said Shemtov. “For me, when I leave, I always wear a mask when I go out because it’s more to protect everyone else. I have been taking social isolation very seriously and I think most health care workers do.”
One way of maintaining one’s mental health and stress levels during the pandemic is to take a break from media coverage of the virus.
“I feel like I could read constantly about COVID-19,” said Shemtov. “But I try to cut in time when I read for things not about the virus. You know, just like fiction or something like that.”
Shemtov is optimistic about Governor Roy Cooper’s plan to gradually reopen the state.
“Our governor has done a really good job and has been very thoughtful,” she said. “The future is so hard to predict, but I think we have the advantage of seeing what happened in other places and I think we have a good plan.”
