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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue officials have expressed concern over the rising number of deaths at home, and they believe people have become hesitant to call 911 and go to the hospital due to COVID-19 fears.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan said that some residents are “scared to go to the hospital.”
“When you start speaking to these families, they’re telling you that they had the signs and symptoms, or they were having shortness of breath last night when they went to bed, but we were scared to call 911 because of COVID in the hospitals,” Gollan said. “By all means, that’s not the case.”
According to first responders, people are calling 911, but they are refusing to go to the hospital, or they are waiting to call 911 when they are experiencing a medical emergency, such as a stroke or a heart attack.
“Over the last two months, we’ve seen our numbers drastically change,” Gollan said.
Overall, officials said 911 calls have dropped, and the number of people FLFR paramedics have transported to the emergency room has fallen by nearly 800 in April compared to the same month in 2019. They also said the number of people who are considered dead on arrival has nearly doubled.
“If you’re experiencing a medical emergency, please, please call 911,” Gollan said.
Data is telling a similar story at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. Officials said ER visits have dropped by over 50%, and people who are hesitating to call 911 or to get checked out by a doctor can have dire consequences.
In April 2019, nearly 24,000 people visited the emergency room compared to less than 11,000 people who visited the emergency room in April 2020.
Gollan and doctors stressed the importance of calling 911 in a medical emergency while speaking at a media conference held at Broward Health Medical Center on Tuesday morning.
“It means the difference of life and death,” Broward Health’s Dr. Joshua Lenchus said. “The longer you wait at home without seeking medical care, you could take something that could be something a little minor, something that we can address immediately, and then that could escalate into something much bigger.”
“We also saw an increase on the number of people we’re pronouncing deceased at home,” Gollans said.
In April 2019, 2,068 patients were transported to the hospital by Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews, but in April 2020, only 1,230 patients were transported.
FLFR also said in April 2019 they had 29 death on arrival patients while the data nearly doubled at 55 this year.
Two charts showing the number of stroke and heart attack patients treated within the Broward Health network have plummeted starting in March and have continued to fall.
“Patients are, frankly, dying at home,” Lenchus said. “We have the best measures that we can employ to take care of them and to keep them healthy. Staying at home deprives us of the opportunity to render care until it’s too late, and then, they wind up dying at home. It’s a shame that people have been paralyzed by the fear.”
While in Southwest Florida on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also told fearful Floridians to go to the hospital if they need medical attention.
“If you need medical attention, this is a safe place to be,” DeSantis said. “Come in here, see the doctors and keep yourself healthy.”
Doctors stressed that if people do not want to go to the ER or to the hospital, they can at least call a doctor, a nurse or use telehealth options.
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