Huntington Beach Hospital Remains Available for All Medical Emergencies
Patients Suffering Non-COVID-19 Emergencies, Such as Heart Attacks or Strokes, Should Not Delay Care and Still Visit ER
Ensuring safe access to emergency medical care continues to be important, even during a pandemic. Huntington Beach Hospital remains available to serve emergency needs for 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, severe abdominal pain, or stroke should still call 911 or visit the emergency room immediately,” said Majed Chane, MD, Chief of Staff of Huntington Beach Hospital.
“Our Emergency Department remains open, safe, and ready to serve patients and our community, 24-hours a day, 7-days a week,” said Richard M. Rowe, Pharm. D, CEO of Huntington Beach Hospital, 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. “The health and safety of our patients and staff is our top priority. 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.”
To help reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission at Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center visitors are not allowed at this time. Policies have been put in place to protect staff and patients. Health screenings are done upon hospital entry for any flu-like symptoms, along with temperature checks for anyone entering, and face masks are issued to all patients. All hospital staff is wearing face masks.
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, 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.