At first, Martha didn’t know she had contracted Coronavirus. Martha’s symptoms started with a feeling of strong back pain that radiated, and then she developed a fever. As a patient of Sun River Health for the last 18 years, Martha has trusted her care to providers at the health center through both major and minor needs. She came into the health center for COVID-19 testing and three days later received a positive result.
Martha’s high fever continued along with a loss of taste and smell. She said, “It felt awful. I wouldn’t wish those fevers on anyone.”
While Martha’s fever broke after 10 days, she was in quarantine in her home for 40 days. She felt awful and was scared as there were times she had extreme difficulty breathing and considered going to the hospital. During this time, Martha’s doctor checked in on her regularly via telemedicine visits – calling to see how her symptoms were, answering her questions, and ensuring that her prescriptions were correct and filled as needed. During this time, the health center also coordinated home food deliveries for Martha to help ease the burden of not being able to go out and to make sure she was eating to keep her strength up.
This was an experience unlike any other, and Martha said, “If it weren’t for the support that [the health center] provided me – the doctor via telemedicine asking me how I was doing, all of it – it wouldn’t have been possible to come back to where I am now.”
