Albany Med CEO Dr. Dennis McKenna says over the past two months, admissions in most parts of the hospital not treating COVID-19 patients are down steadily.

“I’ve been practicing emergency medicine since 1993, and I’ve never seen any significant drop-off like this,” McKenna said Tuesday. “This is something we’re seeing not only here on this campus, but across the country.”

The fear, McKenna says, is that more people are staying home and ignoring serious and potentially life-threatening conditions.

“We’ve seen a drop-off in people presenting to the emergency department for heart attacks or strokes or other serious medical conditions,” McKenna said.

The fact that this drop-off coincides with the coronavirus pandemic appears to be no coincidence. In fact, it’s something McKenna says many medical leaders anticipated.

“We know that you’re scared, we understand why you might be scared, but we’re here to tell you the hospital is a safe environment,” McKenna said.

Hopeful that message reaches people who may be putting off necessary treatment, Albany Med’s leaders are trying to educate the public about steps they’ve always taken to keep the hospital safe, as well as new measures put in place since the pandemic began.

“We check temperatures when you come into the hospital. We ask that if you’re within six feet within a public setting or you’re taking care of somebody, you wear a mask,” he said. “We are obviously reinforcing to our workforce that they are not to be working when they’re sick.”

McKenna cautions avoiding needed care could be the difference between life and death.

“This is not about us having people come back to the hospital for purposes of bringing businesses back to the hospital,” McKenna said. “This is about advocating for people to say if you have medical issues, we want you to be treated.”