Friday, April 17, 2020
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Roper St. Francis Healthcare to resume some surgical services next week
Roper St. Francis Healthcare will resume on Wednesday certain surgical procedures.
We want to help our patients who are suffering and in need of surgical relief while remaining vigilant and prepared to handle whatever the pandemic may bring. We are taking a thoughtful and careful approach that has been informed by national, surgical and anesthesia society guidelines to minimize COVID-19-related risks to patient and our healthcare team.
All surgical patients will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms. Our ability to test patients for COVID-19 on-site will enable caregivers to take a deliberate approach when deciding whether that's necessary before surgery. Testing will be required for certain non-emergent high-risk procedures.
Our hospital's visitor policy will be tweaked to allow surgical patients to have one masked visitor to assist them in the preoperative area. Visitors will be asked to wait in their cars or off campus during the operation, and they will be allowed back in the hospital once the surgery is complete. All visitors also will be asked to maintain social distancing guidelines and hand hygiene.
We will continue grouping COVID-19 patients together in designated areas in our facilities to improve their quality of care as well as minimize the risk to other patients and caregivers. We will continue our conservation efforts of personal protective equipment and adhere to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for the reuse of N95s during a pandemic. Our teammates will continue to wear blue surgical masks while working.
Mitigation efforts such as social distancing and staying at home are having a profound impact on both the rate of new local cases as well as the forecast for the surge. It is our honor to care for the community during this pandemic, and we remain committed to the safety and wellness of our teammates, physicians and community.
BY THE NUMBERS
A total of one new patient has tested positive for COVID-19, bringing our total to 183. Eight of those 183 patients are inpatients in two of our hospitals. The remaining 175 were touched by RSFH in some way, whether it was testing at our drive-thru site at Rivers Avenue or being served through Roper Hospice of Home Health.