By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System is pleased with the progress that has been made in COVID-19 response in Hutchinson.
"This has been a healthcare community effort," said CEO Ken Johnson. "We do think about the hospital and the emergency department and that being a place that people would congregate if they are ill or have symptoms, but this has been very much a process and a collaborative effort between our whole healthcare community. Hutchinson Clinic, Prairie Star and lots of physicians in infectious disease, pulmonology and internal medicine. A whole host of folks have been involved."
If you've been waiting for the pandemic to be over to go to the doctor, don't. You need to remain healthy, regardless.
"Folks were well-intentioned and they truly meant to do the right thing and help us conserve resources," said hospital Chief Operating Officer, Wes Hoyt. "The challenge is, there really is no good time to put off healthcare that needs to be done. Even though we were responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we still have a great population of citizens and neighbors that needed healthcare and they unknowingly put off stuff that they should have been getting done."
It's time to look at setting appointments for preventative testing and regular doctor visits, because COVID-19 isn't going away.
"Before this happened, we already tested for four COVID type of infections," Hunt said. "This is a fifth. It will become part of our life. Once Nick [Baldetti and health department officials] say okay, we're at a good place, we'll address the next layer of peeling back some of the restrictions and opening up more services and things like that."
The hospital would not publicize how many people were furloughed or had their roles change as a result of less non COVID-19 related healthcare usage, but they made it clear that getting back to normal with those jobs will require getting back to more overall healthcare delivery.