Responding to the Needs of the Community
March 19, 2020
APPLETON, Wis. – At ThedaCare, our first priority is the health and wellness of our patients, team members and visitors. Every decision we make is centered on the people of our community.
“We have been diligently preparing for the impact of coronavirus,” said Dr. Michael Hooker, ThedaCare Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Acute Care. “We have been implementing restricted visitor access, managing supplies and equipment, and adjusting care plans to focus on critical areas. As part of our assessment to increase capacity to ensure patient care, there are multiple efforts underway including staging and repurposing rooms for COVID-19 acute illness care and setting up temporary structures at our hospitals.”
As part of our preparedness plan, we have made the vigilant decision to defer all elective non-urgent care, effective March 19, 2020, at our seven hospitals.
- Surgery and procedures that can be postponed without undue risk to the patient or the patient’s medical condition will be rescheduled approximately 6 weeks out. Procedures include all non-urgent imaging, cardiac catheterizations and interventional radiology. Further, routine laboratory testing will be redirected out of the hospital. Care teams are working directly with patients to change appointments as needed.
- Urgent and emergent care needs will continue to be treated at this time.
- If it is felt a surgery or procedure must take place soon, rather than waiting, we will work through the process of getting the appropriate procedures completed.
Please expect a phone call from your provider teams about changes to your appointments and care plans.
This decision was made with the utmost concern to protect our patients, staff and community.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust based on community needs,” said Dr. Hooker. “We would like to thank our patients and families for understanding and support of these necessary changes.”
