Dr. Christopher Cove specializes in procedures to open blocked arteries and implant devices to prevent heart failure.
He's trying to avoid in-office visits in order to avoid exposing patients and staff to COVID-19. Instead, he uses a telemedicine platform to check in with patients.
"They actually can even send us pictures of things they're concerned about," Cove explained. "We have a lot of patients who have blood pressure (machines) at home and patients will take their blood pressure while I'm talking to them."
Hospitals in New York state have eliminated non-emergency procedures.
That means Cove and his colleagues in the cardiac catheterization lab have to make daily decisions about what qualifies as urgent.
"We're probably doing about 50 percent of (the procedures) we were doing before," he said. "Certainly, if a patient comes in and we feel they need it, we will do it."
If patient tests positive for COVID-19, the only cardiac procedure they would get would be one that is deemed life-saving. Cove says he has performed one such procedure. That is when he said he realized the shortage of protective respirator masks was real.
"Myself and the nurses who had to go up to the COVID-19 floor did not have any N95 masks," Cove said. "In fact, we had to go to the emergency room and ask if we could have one of their emergency supplies, since there was none at the hospital."
These are tense times, and Cove says every day, his lab gets multiple phone calls from patients having cardiac symptoms related to stress and anxiety.
Click on the LISTEN link above to hear more from Dr. Christopher Cove, including why he is not all that worried about his own health when coming into contact with patients who have COVID-19.
