Bay Area hospitals are beginning to offer elective procedures once again, and doctors are assuring patients that it is safe to return.
Dignity Health is reopening its Bay Area operating rooms for elective procedures
“It was time for people to start coming back,” says Dr. Dieter Bruno, chief medical officer at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. “Because there were a lot of things that we put off that people really need to have done.”
Elective surgeries are surgeries that can be planned in advance, but the category includes procedures necessary for treating serious conditions such as cancer.
“Because there were urgent and emergency procedures that had to happen all along the way, it allowed us really to fine-tune the process,” says Dr. Bruno. “So that when we decided to go live with elective cases, it was really something that we had been working on - a model - for some time.”
That model includes requiring people to wear face coverings and limitations on visitors.
“We are doing testing of our patients before they come in for procedures to ensure that they don’t have the COVID-19 virus,“ says Sequoia Hospital CEO Bill Graham.
Other Dignity Health facilities Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and Saint Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco and Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz are all reopening operating rooms for elective procedures.