Adventist Health/Rideout has made a number of operational changes in recent weeks to account for the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, which has put a strain on available resources at the Yuba-Sutter areaâs only hospital.
One of the biggest changes has been postponing elective and non-urgent surgeries, which has been the case for several weeks now. Even more recently, hospital leaders closed selected outpatient services in order to re-deploy staff from those areas to meet the needs of patients.
âOperations is very much tied to staffing, which remains very tight due to the high overall and COVID census,â said Monica Arrowsmith, business development and community well-being executive for Adventist Health/Rideout.
York Hospital investigates COVID-19 cluster among staff, patients
In an update Friday, the hospital said 17 staff members and six patients have tested positive thus far. Author: Gabrielle Mannino (NEWS CENTER Maine), Griffin Stockford (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 1:49 PM EST December 8, 2020 Updated: 12:46 PM EST December 11, 2020
YORK, Maine York Hospital is working with the Maine CDC to investigate a cluster of COVID-19 cases among the hospital’s staff and patients.
The hospital said the cluster was identified on Sunday, Dec. 6. In an update Friday, the hospital said 17 staff members and six patients have tested positive thus far. While the outbreak was originally among staff members working in the hospital’s inpatient adult health care area, it now extends to other services as well. However, the hospital said it is confined to the main building.
Vasapolli said the hospital is averaging 12 to 15 cases at a time, which seems to be in line with other area hospitals. To date, she said, there has been no transmission between patients to staff, or staff to patients.
“We have already stopped visitors from coming to the hospital,” she said. “There are exceptions, like in pediatrics, birthing, end-of-life patients and patients with cognitive disabilities, on a case-by-case basis. Our staffing is adequate right now, but we are watching how to allocate services. One problem is we are in cold and flu season. People, including staff, need to be COVID tested and quarantine to determine what they have. That may become a staffing issue.”