Officials at rural hospitals are voicing growing concerns for patients living with chronic health diseases as clinical visits are significantly dropping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hospitals in rural communities make up the entire health care system for the locals living there. Unlike urban health care resources, private health care providers don’t exist.
Joan Hill is the president of Nevada Rural Hospitals, which works to provide 12 rural hospitals with health care necessities.
“Hospitals are seeing, interestingly, less outpatient services, so less lab [and] less X-ray patients. All of our hospitals run their own clinics, their primary care clinics, and those volumes are down 40% to 60%,” Hill said.
Jason Bleak is the administrator and CEO of Battle Mountain General Hospital.
“It brings into question, in my mind, ‘What about those people that we've seen for cardiac issues, diabetic issues other breathing issues [and] for gastrointestinal issues?’ We have not seen those [patients] and I am beginning to be concerned about those individuals. I don't want them to put off their care so long that it becomes detrimental to their lives,” Bleak said.
Bleak said they haven’t seen some of those patients receive the emergency or clinic services since the stay-at-home orders began. He’s also worried about behavioral health impacts during this pandemic.
“This COVID-19 has created a lot of anxieties and a lot of pressures and rather than them being able to go to their normal outlets and take care of those issues, a lot of those places have been closed down. Even for some people who may not have a diagnosed behavioral health issue, not having regular communication with friends — face-to-face interactions, things like that — that can also play on people's behavioral health,” Bleak said.
Hill said many people in rural communities are going through feelings of despair and isolation.
Rural hospitals are facing shortages in personal protective equipment, testing materials and staffing, but they will be getting $1 million to help improve resources during this health crisis by an effort announced by Democratic Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen.
