Jay Stone, MD, Medical Director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, shares what he has seen as a cardiologist caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and why it is so important for patients not to delay care if they need emergency medical treatment.
Members of the Community Medical Center team in Toms River have been tirelessly caring for patients, and one another, as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout it all, they have responded with strength, skill, and compassion, and shown who they truly are – heroes.
Transcription
In COVID, it affects the whole body. It also affects the heart, and we see a lot of these, what we call blood test elevations, these enzymes called troponin going up – it’s not always a primary heart attack, so we have to be careful what we do. We still do in the office – we talk to patients on the telephone, or we’ll do video conferences – I’ll see occasional patients if they need to be seen – that have a new chest pain, or new shortness of breath – we’ll see them. But, otherwise, it’s really more of a phone conversation, so the office is a little bit slower.
The hospital cardiac-wise is slower. People, we think, are afraid to come to the hospital, so we have less cases of heart attack, which is not good – means people are staying at home with their symptoms – and they’re coming in later or they’re not making it. So [in audible} a cardiologist is there and people go into arrhythmias, they go into heart failure, so we’re still there to do what we normally do, we’re just being more cautious. Please don’t be afraid to come to the hospital. If you’re having a problem, if you’re having chest pain, if you’re having shortness of breath, you think you’re maybe having a stroke, you call 911 and come. We are here 24/7 to help.