Hospitals, doctors’ offices and other medical facilities are becoming overwhelmed by the rise in people seeking coronavirus tests and preventative treatments.
Some Long Islanders say they’re being turned away or having to wait a long time for non-COVID ailments.
Maria Waskowitz says her 84-year-old mother went to St. Joseph’s Hospital Monday afternoon suffering from heart failure. She says a nurse told them to wait alongside patients seeking monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID.
“I had asked the nurse, ‘Well isn’t this more critical,’” Waskowitz says. “She said, ‘Well, COVID is critical too.’”
Waskowitz ended up calling 911 and had her mother transported to another hospital.
A spokesman for St. Joseph’s Hospital says they are providing the best care possible, saying in part “…Each person is carefully triaged to determine the best course of treatment. Everyone is masked and all protocols are in place.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for City MD says it has resumed virtual waiting rooms for all of their locations.
News 12 spoke to a Rocky Point man who went into an urgent care to try to get treatment for a neck injury.
“I was having really bad neck pain, I couldn’t turn my neck to the left,” the man says. “She told me they were completely booked…that they couldn’t see anyone because they were sold out from COVID. They were doing COVID testing all day.”
American Family Care Medical Director Dr. Daniel La says they are booked two to three days ahead of the facility’s schedule.
“We don’t have a system in place for mass testing, and all these patients are just coming to urgent care or even vehicles outside to do testing,” La says. “The pure amount of volume is just too much for the medical facility.”
The testing comes as people look to gather for the holidays and the new year.
A spokesperson for City MD says it has a “very high patient demand” and is operating “at capacity at nearly all 150 City MD locations.”