ORLANDO, Fla. – Leaders with AdventHealth announced several new policies as hospitals have been given the green light to begin elective surgeries on Monday.
During a virtual news conference on Thursday, President and CEO Daryl Tol said he believes Florida's stay-at-home order played an important role in flattening the curve of coronavirus cases.
"We believe it is a safe time to reopen with the right steps and the right actions," Tol said.
Starting Monday, AdventHealth will put the following changes in place:
- One visitor per patient is allowed
- Temperature screening for all workers, patients and guests
- Universal masking. Masks will be provided by AdventHealth
- Every AdventHealth worker, in-patient, patient under observation and patient electing to have a procedure will be tested for COVID-19
“We need to know in healthcare, we have a really good screen that is keeping [coronavirus] away from the care that we provide,” Tol said.
In addition to the changes, anyone walking into a waiting room will notice signs and chair covers to encourage social distancing. Patients also have the option for virtual check-in through the AdventHealth app to avoid person-to-person contact.
"We think it's important to protect our patients, staff and the community in order to reduce the possibility of a second surge," Dr. Neil Finkler said.
Officials said when elective surgeries are allowed starting Monday, they will be scheduled on a per need basis.
“Our goal is to take those cases that we have delayed during the course of the lase six to eight weeks and to prioritize those cases first and to eventually get back to our purely elective cases,” Finkler said.