MACON, Ga. — Central Georgia's largest hospital, Atrium Health Navicent, is curtailing elective surgeries due to the latest COVID-19 surge.
Dr. Patrice Walker, chief medical officer at Atrium, says this only applies to elective surgeries that require hospitalization admission after a procedure. Outpatient will continue.
She said the change is in effect Tuesday.
“When we use the word elective, that doesn’t mean the patient doesn’t need the surgery. That means it’s not urgent or emergent. So we never want someone to not get a procedure because of a decision we made, but on the flip side of that is, if you’re going to come into the hospital, and stay in the hospital.," Walker said.
Walker says the hospital is being slammed by COVID-19 cases, especially from the Delta variant. She says the pace of cases coming into Atrium is more than previous surges of cases.
Another difference she pointed out is their staffing. Walker says last year, the hospital had supplemental contract staff through the state that helped Atrium respond to the surge in cases.
She says this decision to reduce elective surgery will allow them to shift some staff to other departments help with their COVID-19 response.
"For now, it was the right thing. But we want to do that as short of a time as possible. Because we know that people need the care, and we want to be here for them to get it," Walker said.
According to numbers reported to the federal government, in the week ending July 30, Atrium Health Navicent averaged 66 COVID-19 in-patients each day. That's nearly twice as many as a week before.
Four weeks earlier, they averaged six COVID-19 in-patients each day.