Asante and Providence Hospitals react to Gov. Brown lifting restrictions on hospitals

MEDFORD, ORE — Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Thursday she’s reopening the state’s hospitals for elective procedures.

Starting May 1, ‘non-essential’ dental offices, hospitals, medical offices, and surgical centers can open their doors. The offices that will open in may will need to meet certain requirements prior to reopening… Such as keeping enough supply of PPE.

Asante sent NBC5 News a statement, that read:

“For the sake of our community and the people we serve, Asante is hopeful to begin providing the surgical and procedural care that many people have had to delay as a result of the pandemic. Asante is confident it will meet the criteria as set forth by the Governor’s office, such as maintaining an adequate supply of PPE and hospital beds, to once again offer select treatments, while ensuring the safety of our staff, physician partners and community. Asante remains committed to handling the health care needs of people affected by COVID-19 for as long as it takes. We are incredibly grateful for the patience and support this community has shown our health care workers during this crisis.”

Lisa Vance, Chief Executive for Providence Hospital also released a statement today.

“We are pleased that Governor Brown has announced health care providers can open up non-urgent surgeries and other health services. We know this is important to everyone.

The parameters provided by the governor are intended to ensure there is enough capacity to serve COVID patients – both at the current levels and if there is another surge. Over the past few weeks, we have been working on a standardized approach in anticipation of this and want to share some preliminary information; you can expect more details next week.

There are three primary factors that must be met:

We must have enough PPE to accommodate the surgeries and have 30 days of PPE on hand. We know N95 masks are one limiting factor. We will develop a standardized process of use that must be followed.

We must have adequate testing. This includes current COVID patients as well as testing of patients before surgery.

We must have beds available to handle COVID patients, as well as surgery and other patients.

We’re still working out details, and Providence will not begin performing these procedures until Monday, May 4. Our operating room use currently stands at about 25% of capacity. We intend to ramp up to 50% in May, and we hope to increase that over time as conditions allow. This will be a process. We’ll have more specifics next week.

As we begin integrating surgeries and related services back into our hospitals, please know that supporting our caregivers, patients and families is a top priority. We’ll assess how things are going and adjust accordingly as we go on. As always, we are grateful to our caregivers – and for everyone who entrusts their health care to Providence.”