Ballad Health provides updates at media briefing

Published 3:03 pm Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Ballad Health discussed updates on elective surgeries, tool kits being emailed to businesses reopening, a need for blood donations, their third quarter report, COVID-19 patients and celebrated National Nurses Day at a media briefing on Wednesday.

Eric Deaton, COO of Ballad, stated the resuming of elective surgeries, which began on Monday, are going well.

“We restarted elective surgery this week and it has gone very well,” he said. “We continue to test every patient for COVID-19. This ensures we’re keeping everyone safe during this process. If a patient has COVID-19, their surgery is deferred to a later date.”

The resuming of elective surgeries has also allowed for furloughed employees to begin being called back to work.

Along with the reopening of things like surgeries, many other aspects of regular life have been too, including businesses. Deaton announced that in response to businesses reopening, Ballad Health has been emailing a toolkit with information on disinfecting surfaces, cleaning restrooms, countertops and touchscreens, and installing hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations. A link to this toolkit is also available for download on the Ballad Health website.

Along with this information, Ballad announced a need for blood donations at Marsh Regional Blood Center. Deaton said that this is risk-free as employees are tested for the virus, and cleaning practices are in place. For safety, those wishing to donate can do so by appointment only.

In discussing their Fiscal-Year 2020 third-quarter results, aspects discussed, just to name a few, included improvement in quality of care, improvement in patient satisfaction and reduction in healthcare costs.

Ballad currently has 11 patients in-house with COVID, and seven under investigation. They also have 300 beds and 245 ventilators if needed. Two employees, who had the virus and had been hospitalized, were also discharged this past weekend.

Along with updates, Ballad Health invited Lisa Smithgall, Chief Nursing Executive, to speak in celebration of National Nurses Day.

“This is the year of the nurse, and I am very proud of them,” she said.

For more information on Ballad Health updates, you can go to www.balladhealth.org. To donate blood, please call Marsh Regional Blood Center at 423-408-7500.