How to address fear: A patient’s perspective of seeking care during COVID-19

This article is a narrative of one patient’s experience during COVID-19. As a non-COVID patient, she shares her personal fears, the fears of others in her family and the fears of the healthcare professionals. These fears have made navigating the healthcare systems stressful for patients but also caused patients to avoid them completely. In some cases, this avoidance led to delayed diagnosis, missed diagnosis and death. When healthcare providers guide patients through the process of seeking in-person healthcare, the outcomes were more positive for everyone involved but especially for the patients and their care partners. The patient’s voice is needed to help healthcare professionals understand their fears and how to provide the best healthcare for all.