WVU Medicine Reynolds Hospital ER Still Serving People in Need of Care
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GLEN DALE -- WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital officials want people to know that despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, people can still get emergency medical care at their facilities.
Dr. David Hess, president and CEO of Reynolds Memorial, said he does not want people who are suffering potentially dire symptoms of other illnesses to avoid the emergency room during this time.
"Our concern is that people are ignoring warning signs of heart attack, strokes and other serious emergency conditions because they are scared to come to the ER. We don't want patients to put off serious issues that could lead to serious injury or death because they are too worried to come into the ER. Our staff is well-trained, well-equipped and ready to meet the needs of COVID patients, but especially ready to meet the needs of patients without COVID," Hess said on Monday.
Reynolds, he said, has put precautions in place to help keep all patients safe from the virus.
"The people in our region did a great job of staying at home and social distancing. Because of this, the community prevalence of COVID is low. We did not see a surge of COVID patients," Hess said.
He said because of the surge projections, many changes were made in the ER, including screening mechanisms to try and isolate patients with symptoms of the disease.
"We have separate waiting areas for patients with those symptoms so that we don't expose patients without symptoms to the potential for COVID," he added. "We have adequate room, staffing and personal protective equipment because we didn't see the surge that other large cities saw. Our staff will protect the patients by wearing masks and gloves so they don't transmit any virus to any of our patients."