Hospital prepares to resume elective procedures

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HANCOCK COUNTY — Hancock Regional Hospital will be able to resume elective procedures next week that haven’t been possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it won’t be like flipping a switch back to business as usual.

There are steps to take and factors to weigh now that the state has given the green light for such procedures to start resuming. The hospital will also continue to keep a close eye on equipment needed for the still very real threat of the novel coronavirus.

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s most recent executive order, signed Monday, permits health care providers to resume those procedures starting at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, April 26.

Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Regional Hospital, pointed out that none of the state’s executive orders have prevented hospitals from treating patients at significant risk of a health condition getting worse or causing death or pain that’s difficult to manage, including by conducting surgery when necessary.

Now the hospital is preparing to get back to procedures that aren’t as dire, like screening colonoscopies and certain mammography and cardiovascular lab procedures, for example.

“If it’s not urgent, but something you can’t really go without forever, that’s what we’re going to start doing again,” Long said.

It won’t be back to normal right away, he continued.

“It’s not going to be suddenly the doors are open and we got lines of people waiting to have surgery,” he said.

The hospital is starting by reaching out to patients who had elective procedures scheduled that had to be postponed due to the pandemic, Long said. Its next step is to contact patients who normally would have been scheduled for procedures during the time of the recent executive order restrictions on health care providers.

There haven’t been a lot of patients coming in to the hospital’s physicians’ offices lately for ailments and follow-ups, Long said, adding he expects that to start changing soon as well.

For each patient, health care providers are weighing the risks of them leaving home to seek treatment against the potential consequences of not helping them through their health care needs, he said.

“The No. 1 priority we have right now is safety,” Long said. “The pandemic is still there.”

Hancock Regional Hospital’s supply of personal protective equipment is in good shape and the staff continues to watch it carefully, Long also said. It includes masks, gloves, goggles, gowns and other imperative materials for shielding health care workers as they treat those with the contagious virus.

“We will not do things that impact our ability to care for a potential surge in COVID-19 patients,” Long said.

He also responded to a notion that health care facilities are currently dangerous because they’ve been treating patients with COVID-19. Long emphasized that Hancock Regional Hospital is safe to visit.

“We have the situation well in hand,” he said. “If you have a health condition that needs to be taken care of, we are here to take care of them.”

The Indiana State Department of Health’s correction of its daily COVID-19 figures resulted in two fewer cases for Hancock County between Monday and Tuesday, decreasing its total to 149. Hancock County’s death count remained at seven, and total tests rose 15 to 1,119.

In Indiana, more than 400 new cases brought that total to 12,097, deaths jumped 61 for a total of 630, and tests stood at 67,264 after rising 2,625.

As more health care functions start to resume, business resumptions of some kind shouldn’t be too far behind, Holcomb reminded viewers during his daily briefing on Tuesday. Last week, he asked for business associations to provide recommendations by today (April 22) on how to restart in a way that’s safe for employees and customers.

Those recommendations along with COVID-19 data will determine how and when businesses will be able to shed restrictions currently in place to stem the spread of the virus, Holcomb continued. He added he anticipates having an announcement to that effect sometime in May.

“We haven’t sent a date out to them or to the public yet,” Holcomb said. “We’re going to review those plans and then we’ll be directly dependent on what the numbers are on the ground that allows us to address not only when, necessarily, but how.”

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COVID-19 data as of April 20

Hancock County

  • 149 cases
  • 7 deaths
  • 1,119 tested

Indiana

  • 12,097 cases
  • 630 deaths
  • 67,264 tested

U.S.

  • 746,625 cases
  • 39,083 deaths

Sources: Indiana State Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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“It’s not going to be suddenly the doors are open and we got lines of people waiting to have surgery.”

Steve Long

President and CEO, Hancock Regional Hospital

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