In the Spring of 2020, we braced for the hurricane-like forces of Covid. We all stocked up our home supplies, we kept our children home from school, and many stayed home from work. We stayed off the roads and out of stores. We sheltered in place. With the early storm warnings, we worried. We worried about our health, our family, and how to support hospitals and providers, nurses, and first responders. We continued to stay home and out of the way but we still worried. We worried about the disease of covid, about finances, about global impacts. But many of us did not have time or space to worry about routine business, or were able to always schedule routine health checkups.
As we are opening our doors, and looking outside to assess the devastation. We are seeing families who have mourned, businesses that have failed, and many of us in healthcare are starting to see illness that has been caught too late because routine healthcare was absent, missed, or unattainable during the storm of Covid.
In adults we have seen missed cancer diagnoses, uncontrolled diabetes, and hypertension, leading to potentially preventable complications. Many women have missed breast and cervical cancer screenings, and many individuals over 50 have missed colon cancer screening opportunities.
Children have missed developmental screenings that would ordinarily have happened at a Well Child Visit. This may have impacted their ability to receive support services within the community or school. Other children have been vaccinated against COVID-19, but have fallen behind in routine vaccinations.
As a family nurse practitioner, I value having conversations with individuals about prevention, but also about the importance of rescheduling missed screenings and managing new diagnoses. I want you to know that it is not too late to resume proactive management of your family’s healthcare. Please know that it is not too late to get back to the business of caring for yourself and your family.
Please schedule a time to meet with your Primary Care Provider to discuss your specific concerns and review routine screening recommendations. If you are concerned about exposure risk, please call and ask your office about the precautions they are taking. Many offices continue to require masks, enforce social distancing and use a different entrance or waiting room for potentially symptomatic patients. As we learn to live with this COVID-19 storm and its ongoing repercussions, it is time to reestablish care with your family provider.