After halting for coronavirus pandemic, St. Elizabeth’s to restart elective surgeries
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon announced Tuesday that it will resume elective surgeries and procedures beginning early next week after they had been put on hold for the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospitals had canceled and postponed elective medical work in March to deal with the surge of COVID-19 patients, and the subsequent drop in business has caused hospitals across the region to furlough employees.
Springfield-based Hospital Sisters Hospital System, or HSHS, which owns St. Elizabeth’s and the two St. Joseph’s hospitals in Breese and Highland, said last week it would furlough an unspecified number of employees.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has updated his stay-at-home order to allow elective surgeries as long as a hospital can meet certain guidelines regarding capacity, according to the Illinois Hospital Association.
St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare, which owns Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh and Alton Memorial Hospital, said on Monday it will furlough employees and has not yet announced whether elective surgeries will resume.
“While we need to remain vigilant, with the gradual reduction in new hospital admissions in our region we are now looking ahead toward how and when we will gradually and safely resume services that have been postponed or halted,” BJC HealthCare said in a statement to the BND. “We intend to take a measured approach in coordination with the reopening of services in our community as led by our elected officials.”
Here are some of the measures that patients must follow according to St. Elizabeth’s:
▪ “All patients preparing for an elective procedure must have a negative COVID-19 test on file within 72 hours of a scheduled procedure and must self-quarantine after being tested until the day of surgery to limit their risk of exposure. Patients will be informed during a pre-surgical call the most convenient place to undergo this testing. St. Elizabeth’s will only be testing patients scheduled for procedures at their facility.
▪ The patient’s one support person that will be allowed to accompany them the day of their surgery will also be screened.
▪ The hospital’s current visitor restrictions will still apply to minimize traffic within the hospital to keep patients and the community safe.
▪ All patients and visitors will be required to wear a mask at all times while at the hospital.”
“We have not offered non-emergent procedures because of the Governor’s order for several weeks and there is quite a backlog of cases at each of our HSHS Illinois hospitals,” said Allison Paul, HSHS Illinois Division chief nursing executive, in a news release. “We encourage patients to contact your doctor for more information about when you can get your procedure scheduled in the coming weeks.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 12:58 PM.
