Dominican Hospital announces gradual reopening of elective procedures
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) Dominican Hospital announced that it will begin the process of reopening elective procedures.
To begin, it said it will focus on medically necessary, time-sensitive procedures. The hospital said that includes surgeries, endoscopies, cardiac catheterization lab procedures and interventional radiology procedures.
“One of the toughest changes we have had to make in the face of COVID-19 has been pausing scheduled procedures,” said Dominican Hospital President and CEO Nanette Mickiewicz, MD. “We are thrilled to begin offering elective procedures once again. The safety of our patients and staff always come first. We won’t be able to provide every service right away—this will be a gradual process to ensure we are addressing the most urgent needs first and providing the safest care possible to our community.”
The hospital temporarily stopped scheduled procedures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and prepare for a potential surge in patients, but said the initial peak appears to have passed.
In order to reopen scheduled procedures, there needed to be a sustained reduction of COVID-19 cases in the area, enough PPE for patients and staff and testing capacity for all patients recieving care in operating rooms.
The hospital still has a stricter visiting policy in place, screens all patients for COVID-19 symptoms and makes sure they are wearing masks, practices social distancing, isolates patients with potential cases, enhanced cleaning and disinfection processes and adjusted operating room schedules to allow for more cleaning.
