Florida Nonprofit Helping COVID-19 Patients
Mount Dora, Fla., – With hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. currently infected with COVID-19, the American Patient Rights Association (APRA), a nonprofit consumer organization for patients, is working to help those who will need to be hospitalized. APRA has published an online hospital safety guide for COVID-19 patients which includes important steps to take before going to a hospital and once a patient has been admitted.
“Our organization is suggesting that people prepare in advance, in case they need to be hospitalized, while they are still well enough to get things done. This guide can aid them during a very stressful time,” said Ron Liss, president and founder of APRA.
The guide is adapted for COVID-19 patients from The Patient’s Guide to Hospital Safety, a soon-to-be-released mobile app from APRA for use by all hospital patients, written and published in cooperation with health care professionals.
Even though there are fewer COVID-19 patients than originally estimated and not all will need to be admitted to a hospital, those who will are at serious risk of harm, since many hospitals don’t have enough staff, equipment or medication to treat the number of patients they are seeing safely.
During normal times, patient safety in hospitals is a major problem. Between 250,000 and 400,000 men, women and children die every year because of a preventable medical error that happened to them while they were in the hospital and had nothing to do with the injury or illness they were hospitalized for. It’s the third leading cause of death.
“Our guide also includes information about what COVID-19 patients can do to protect themselves from being harmed while in the hospital ”, Liss said. “Since they are at high risk there are steps they should take.”
Media Availability: Our Founder and President Ronald Liss is available via phone or Zoom call for interviews on this subject. Please connect with our media spokesperson, Ian Dembling, to arrange this interview.
Media Contact:
Ian Dembling
iandembling@americanpatient.
518.469.1018
