Page 44 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

rating in some way.”
Take bariatric surgery, which some people
might put in the non-essential category. Those patients start the process six months before surgery and tackle issues such as diabetes and blood pressure — “all the issues that make COVID deadlier,” Hatiras said. They typically have to lose a certain amount of weight before surgery and undergo psychological screening and counseling.
“When they meet all the milestones and the date approaches where they’re ready for surgery, should we now tell them, ‘guess what? We can’t do your surgery; we’ll let you know when we can.’ That would be wholly detrimental to the patient, who worked for six months to get to a point they might never get back to.
“Could you call that elective?” Hatiras added. “When you do the surgery, the diabetes gets bet- ter, the blood pressure gets better, the heart gets better. I take issue with what some people con- sider elective.”
Or take knee and hip replacements, he went on. “Is that really elective when there’s a risk of blood clots because they can’t walk or they’re risk- ing other illnesses because they’re taking pain medications to cope with it?”
Call Your Doctor
Hatiras and Roose both hope the new state guidance doesn’t chase people away from seeking the care they actually need. That’s what happened last year, and hospitals and patients are still feel- ing the effects.
“At this point in the pandemic, our concern is that we have started to see the impacts of people in the community delaying care during prior waves of the pandemic,” Roose said. “We want to
encourage members of the community to seek out important primary care, preventive care, and non-urgent care that can contribute to their health and wellness.”
In other words, let doctors and facilities decide what’s necessary — and how that care can be delivered.
get boosted when eligible; always wear a mask when in public and when social distancing isn’t possible; get tested for COVID-19 if you develop symptoms or if you come into close contact with someone who has tested positive; keep up with regular medical appointments, “as we are now seeing the devastating effects of delayed care from the first waves of the pandemic”; and seek care from a doctor or urgent-care center when appropriate.
“We have seen the pandemic shift many things in healthcare, including the way people seek care, which now is occurring far more through digital or virtual means than prior to the pan-
demic,” Roose said. “We’re seeing high
demand for additional services in the
home after a hospital stay, or in skilled
nursing and other facilities. We are paying attention to how we can provide a service
that delivers both in terms of convenience
and excellence, because the pandemic has changed fundamentally the way care will
be delivered for many years to come.”
The MHA, the DPH, and hospitals are united on one front: the unvaccinated far, far outnum- ber the vaccinated when it comes to taking up inpatient beds — and especially ICU beds — with COVID, in turn making it harder for hospitals to provide other services.
According to the DPH, 97% of COVID break- through cases in Massachusetts have not resulted in hospitalization or death, and unvaccinated individuals are five times more likely to contract COVID than fully vaccinated individuals and 31 times more likely to contract COVID than indi- viduals who have a booster.
The MHA’s executive committee recently released an “urgent plea” for Massachusetts resi- dents to do five things if they haven’t already: get vaccinated for both COVID-19 and the flu, and
“When somebody gets to the point where they need surgery, it’s not like getting a haircut, where it can wait until next month.”
“When in doubt, you should never hesitate to visit your local emergency room,” the committee noted. “But for many medical situations, these settings can provide you with more timely and efficient care.”
It’s notable that, along with the expected
advice to vaccinate and mask up, these medical professionals would warn against delaying care,
even amid the DPH’s guidance to hospitals to postpone some procedures.
“Cumulatively, I think we’re dropping the
health status of individuals,” Hatiras said, noting
that people have put off colonoscopies, mam- mograms, and other procedures that are key to detecting issues early, before they develop into
health crises. Holy-
oke Medical Center Care
has responded with Continued on page 46
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