May, 18, 2020: Today, WMCHealth announces that elective outpatient ambulatory surgeries and medical tests will resume this week at its hospitals in Orange County, under an Executive Order from Governor Andrew Cuomo. St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick and Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis will each resume outpatient surgery services.
Governor Cuomo's Executive Order allows for resumption of elective outpatient ambulatory surgical services -- those for which the patient enters and leaves a surgical facility on the same day, without an overnight stay -- based on the status of coronavirus impact, including a drop in COVID-19 cases in specific counties.
Individuals who were able to defer an elective outpatient procedure or test during the early phase of the pandemic will be contacted to reschedule pre-procedure testing as well as their surgery.
As a mandatory safety protocol, the hospitals will provide each patient with a COVID-19 test prior to a procedure. Each patient must then follow stringent safety precautions to avoid possible infection before the procedure date itself. Any patient who tests positive for a COVID infection will be re-tested before elective surgery can be rescheduled. Emergency and urgent surgeries have continued without deferral throughout the pandemic, regardless of a patient's infection status.
While each patient previously scheduled for an outpatient procedure will be called to reschedule, individuals can feel free to initiate re-scheduling by contacting their surgeon's office. Affiliated physicians are welcome to call surgery practices to discuss a patient who will be rescheduled for a procedure, or to make a new referral.
In addition, office hours are expanding at our Bon Secours Medical Group offices in Orange County. New York State is allowing for resumption of medical practice visits based on the status of coronavirus impact, including a drop in COVID-19 cases, in specific counties.The practitioners and staff of the Bon Secours Medical Group continue to care for our patients through telehealth, video visits and in person; with certain criteria to ensure our patients' safety and the safety of our staff in Orange, Rockland, Pike and Bergen Counties.
Any individual with new or concerning symptoms or a change in health status should not wait for care and should call their primary physician's office or come to an emergency room. The health and well-being of our community, our patients and our workforce is our number one priority. We have taken extraordinary measures to protect our workforce, and to ensure that all our care environments are safe for our patients.
Visit https://www.stanthonycommunityhosp.org or https://www.bonsecourscommunityhosp.org/ for more detail on scheduling elective outpatient ambulatory procedures and tests. Visit https://www.bonsecoursmg.com/ to contact your doctor's office to make an appointment.
Additional Guidelines for Face to Face Office Visits
The health and well-being of our patients is our top priority, during The COVID -19 pandemic.
The practitioners and staff of the Bon Secours Charity Medical Group are here to care for our patients through telehealth, video visits and in person; with certain criteria to ensure your safety and the safety of our staff.
If you have a COVID test pending, have tested positive in the last 14-21 days or have symptoms suspicious for COVID infection (cough, fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell or shortness of breath) - please let our staff know when you are scheduling your visit, a video or telephone visit may be more appropriate for you.
For your safety, we have implemented the following guidelines and safety precautions at our practices for in person visits:
- Patients will be called the day before their appointment and asked questions regarding symptoms that may indicate that they are sick with COVID. We also ask that you take your temperature the day of your appointment and call us if it is more than 99.5 degrees. We will determine if a video or telephone visit would be more appropriate.
- You must come to the clinic wearing a face mask or face covering
- When you arrive in the parking lot, call the office to let them know you are here. A member of the staff will give instructions, greet you and screen you for symptoms and take your temperature, prior to entering the office.
- Our offices have changed the waiting rooms to allow for appropriate social distancing by placing seats 6 feet apart.
- Our offices will make best efforts to have very few people in a waiting room at a time and take the patient directly to the exam room when possible.
- Please do not come with your family or friends to your visit except patients for whom a support person has been determined to be essential to the care of the patient (medically necessary) including patients with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and patients with cognitive impairments including dementia.
- Our staff and doctors in the office will be wearing face masks and gloves during the work day and will be screened for fever daily, to ensure that they are not sick themselves.
- Exam rooms and equipment will be cleaned between each patient visit and our staff and doctors will change their protective equipment and perform hand hygiene per CDC protocol
We do not provide COVID testing at our practices but continue to provide COVID testing, by appointment with an order from your practitioner at our acute care hospitals: Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, St. Anthony's in Warwick and Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis.
We are committed to your continued health and want you to know we are doing everything we can to make sure we can continue to safely provide you with the medical care you need.