When the pandemic began in March, 75-year-old retiree Michael Bird postponed his hip revision surgery to avoid a risky hospital visit, but five months later in August, Bird had the procedure.
Then as summer turned to fall, he watched as COVID-19 hospitalizations more than tripled. That’s when he wrote us asking, “What’s the state’s strategy if we hit 100% ICU bed use and there are COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients in similar need?”
Indiana currently has about 20% of its ICU beds still available, with COVID-19 patients occupying just over 40%. And while Bird and his wife both face increased COVID-19 risks due to their age and health, he is worried about fellow Hoosiers who need an elective procedure — much like he did in August — while hospitals overflow with COVID-19 patients.
“This isn’t an elective to me. This is something that needs to get down,” Bird said when recounting his hip surgery. “What happens when we get to the point where you’re essentially picking and choosing winners and losers?”
In an attempt to avoid reaching that point, Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered last Wednesday that all Indiana hospitals must postpone non-emergency procedures until at least Jan. 3, and since March, the Indiana State Department of Health has offered resources and guidance to healthcare professional.
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But officials at IU Health say community members shouldn’t worry about missing a necessary surgery, even if the state considers it elective.
President of IU Health South Central Region Brian Shockney said its hospitals doesn’t considers surgeries elective but urgent or emergent. A patient may need an urgent surgery like a knee or hip replacement because nothing else will alleviate their pain or an emergent surgery that will target an acute condition that could become life-threatening like cancer. But Shockney recognizes that no one goes to an IU Health hospital eager to go under the knife.
“No one elects to have surgery,” Shockney said. “No one wants to have surgery.”
Monroe County residents who need a surgery can still schedule a procedure with IU Health, according to Shockney, even as the hospital system has an ICU bed occupancy of 76%.
He explained that because surgeries are scheduled weeks in advance, doctors and healthcare providers are continually anticipating a surgery, assessing the possibility of that surgery getting postponed due to COVID-19 fluctuations and creating contingency plans for the shifting hospital environment.
“This request of the governor was nothing new to us,” Shockney said. “We’ve been doing it. We actually have postponed some surgeries over the past couple months, but it’s been very, very few.”
Regardless of the governor’s order and the current numbers, Shockney said he’s excited for the coming vaccine, and he said community members should be too.
“That is going to be the way we get through and onto the other side of this pandemic.”
For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.
