ATLANTA — Grady Memorial Hospital said it will pause all elective surgeries so it can better handle the surge in COVID-19 patients.
In a letter, Grady Health System’s CEO, John Haupert, said, “because of the strain this is putting on the health system, our patients, and our staff, we must make some changes to the way we operate.”
“We will regularly review patient volumes to determine when we can resume those services. We are working through this as best we can, all while watching closely for a potential post-holiday COVID-19 surge,” Haupert said.
The CEO said patients sick from COVID-19 have inundated Grady Memorial and other hospitals in the area.
“Seriously ill patients with COVID-19 and other significant health issues inundated the hospital. And because other hospitals in the area are just as full, our weekend-long total diversion status did little to slow the steady stream of ambulance-delivered patients,” Haupert said. “We realize this is a decision that will inconvenience our patients but is necessary under these extraordinary circumstances to keep our patients and staff safe.”
Two Georgia congressmen want Gov. Brian Kemp to use his authority to make other hospitals across the state do the same thing.
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Democratic Reps. David Scott and Hank Johnson sent Kemp a letter asking him to direct the Georgia Department of Public Health to order all hospitals statewide to do the same thing.
Kemp wrote them a letter back saying he wouldn’t do it.
Scott told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot he doesn’t believe it would have to be a long pause.
“At least until the surge goes down and quite honestly, it may be just a week. It may be two or three. It all depends, but our doctors and nurses are overwhelmed,” Scott said.
Elliot contacted several north Georgia hospitals Wednesday for comment, but none did.
But a representative for one hospital pointed out that the number of inpatient elective surgeries is so low that pausing them probably wouldn’t affect COVID patient care.But in a letter obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Kemp said he wouldn’t order a statewide pause out of economic concerns for the hospitals.
“Organizations like the Georgia Hospital Association have repeatedly requested that I refrain from ordering a stop to elective health procedures,” the letter said. “Banning elective procedures would bankrupt hospital systems already reeling from a year and a half of fighting a global pandemic.”
Scott believes a mandatory pause, even a temporary one, would go a long way to helping hospitals.
“We have got to make room in our hospitals to attend to these. So many now, Richard, are children who catch this disease,” Scott said.
Children’s Health Care of Atlanta is reporting on its website that wait times at all of its locations are more than two hours.
Long waits are common at hospitals now.
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