A ‘staggering’ number of people couldn’t get care during the pandemic, poll finds – By Rhitu Chatterjee (NPR) / Aug 8, 2022
When the pandemic started, Tomeka Kimbrough-Hilson knew she had a small growth inside her uterus. She was first diagnosed with uterine fibroids back in 2006 and had been able to have the non-cancerous mass removed through outpatient laser surgery. Over the years, she’d also been able to manage her symptoms with medication and changes in her lifestyle.
But when those symptoms – a bloated belly, irregular periods, nausea – returned in 2020, Kimbrough-Hilson was unable to get an appointment with a specialist.
“March 27th came and everything got shut down,” says Kimbrough-Hilson, 47, of Stone Mountain, Georgia. “I wasn’t at the tier of care that needed [immediate attention], because of all the precautions that had to be taken.”
But even after the lockdown in spring of 2020 was lifted, Kimbrough-Hilson, a mother of five who works in the health insurance industry, was unable to see a gynecologist.
