IU Health Hospitals plan to reopen for elective surgeries on May 4. Until then, the hospitals will be implementing steps, such as mask requirements, to ensure the patients with COVID-19 and the surgical patients are not cross contaminated, according to an Indiana Public Media.
The hospital will start out at 25% of its usual surgical capacity, IU Health Bloomington President Brian Shockney said in the release. When they feel confident that it is able to do that well it will consider increasing the amount of surgical patients.
By easing back into surgeries the hospitals will be able to test how many surgeries they can handle on top of the patients with the coronavirus.
They are doing this to help the patients who are living in pain every day whose surgeries have been backlogged, Shockney said in the article. Gov. Eric Holcomb’s stay-at-home order postponed all elective surgeries until May 1.
Everyone who is entering a facility, both inpatient and outpatient, is required to wear a surgical or isolation mask, according to the IU Health website. Cloth masks are no longer allowed
Visitors are only allowed in specific areas and situations during this time, including obstetrics and delivery, outpatient surgery, outpatient office appointments, inpatient surgery. Patient caretakers, guardians for a minor patient and one legal guardian for a patient in Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health are allowed, according to the website.
For neonatal intensive care units and end-of-life, two designated visitors may be allowed.
All patients and visitors must be screened for the coronavirus.
