Adena Health Systems continuing COVID-19 safety protocols as cases surge

CHILLICOTHE— The new year has welcomed a surge of COVID-19 cases and new ways to combat the virus.

Adena Health Systems has continued to use safety methods from the beginning of the pandemic, like mask mandates and social distancing, and has implemented new safety procedures to slow the spread of the virus.

The hospital has temporarily stopped inpatient elective surgeries, as long as there is no risk of patient death, disability, spreading cancer or severe pains. The goal is to have more available hospital beds for patients with COVID-19.

Another method of freeing up hospital beds is sending lower-risk patients home with medical equipment to aid them in recovery. The at-home program is designed for people who have already been hospitalized with COVID-19, have received treatment and are improving.

The patient is sent home with an iPad and a pulse oximeter blood pressure cuff and the patient shares their vitals virtually with their doctor.

"When they're sick and they're on the floor, they can be there for seven to 10 days. That's a very slow recovery," said Kirk Tucker, Chief Clinical Officer at Adena Health System. "Once you're heading in the right direction, there's no reason you have to spend the rest of it sitting in a hospital bed."

The hospital is also now offering the antiviral medications PAXLOVID and molnupiravir to treat COVID-19. The treatment is in limited supply and requires a physician's prescription and a COVID-19 positive test result.

Patients also have to be considered high-risk to receive the medication, such as patients with advanced age, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

"It gives your immune system a little bit of a head start on stopping the infection before the infection can overwhelm your lungs and make you very, very sick," Tucker said. "They reduce your chance of hospitalization and death if you can get on these drugs."

Ongoing safety measures include limiting visitors, requiring everyone to wear a surgical mask, encouraging hand hygiene and giving time off to sick healthcare workers.

In a Facebook Live conversation from Jan. 7, Jeff Graham, the president and CEO of Adena Health Systems, said the hospital is facing staff shortages.

"What COVID has done is we were already in a staffing shortage across the U.S.," Graham said. "Now we just maxed out every bed every day... You've got this gap that you're trying to fill with staff where you're already short and that's what compounds things."

Molly Grooms, the Chief Nursing Officer for Adena Health Systems, said during the Facebook Live event that the hospital has extended wait times because of an overflow of patients.

"With the amount of patients that we're seeing at our urgent cares our testing numbers have actually gone through the roof," Grooms said. "In the ER we're seeing a lot of record numbers and we're staying full all the time."

As of Wednesday, Adena Health Systems have 84 COVID-19 positive patients admitted throughout their four hospitals. 22 of those patients are admitted to the intensive care unit or step-down unit. Everyone that is in the ICU or on a ventilator is unvaccinated.

Last week, 73 COVID-19 patients were admitted to Adena Health Systems — seven patients were vaccinated and 66 were unvaccinated.

"All of the deaths that I've reviewed since mid-December, except for one where I could not find documentation of vaccine status, all of the deaths have been in unvaccinated patients," Tucker said. "We're probably talking 30 of them now since mid-December in the last four weeks."

Grooms said handwashing, wearing a mask and getting the COVID-19 vaccine are important for staying healthy during the pandemic.

"There's a lot of evidence that suggests that that's very helpful," Grooms said. "That's what we do within our own four walls... we're able to see a lot of success."

Megan Becker is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. She can be reached at 740-349-1106, email her at mbecker@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @BeckerReporting

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Adena Health Systems continuing COVID-19 safety protocols as cases surge