NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that elective outpatient treatments can begin in counties and hospitals where there is little risk of a COVID-19 surge in the near future. Erie County is not on that list, but the other seven counties in Western New York are. Those hospitals can begin elective surgeries starting April 28.
Joseph Ruffolo is the president and CEO of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, he told 2 On Your Side that new protocols will be in place when they begin elective surgeries.
"In addition to the normal pre-op clearances we're requiring patients to come in four days prior to surgery to be COVID tested" said Ruffolo.
Ruffolo said the hospital had to furlough 50 workers and reduce compensation for administrators.
"Roughly 67 percent of our total surgery is outpatient and 33 percent is inpatient, so it'd be good to get back to starting our outpatient surgery" he said.
Anne McCaffrey of Eastern Niagara Health System told 2 On Your Side they also had to furlough workers. However, with this change McCaffrey and Ruffalo both said they will be bringing employees back to help with elective surgeries.
"We will be re-looking at our lists of employees that were furloughed last week and it's our intention to bring as many of those back as soon as we can depending on what area they were in and how fast the volume comes back " said McCaffrey.
“Once we can hopefully get the fear out of the marketplace and start bringing back these elective cases, it’s our intent to eventually bring all of the furloughed employees back” said Ruffalo.
Mount Saint Mary's Hospital in Lewiston is under Catholic Health, President and CEO Mark Sullivan said they will be scheduling patients based on urgency.
"You need to get the patients cued up and make sure what patients they are going to see, which patients are the most urgent to be seen and work closely with our medical leadership, who has been outstanding during this crisis " said Sullivan.
McCaffrey also said she understands the need for elective surgeries in Erie County. She said Eastern Niagara Health System is open to helping Erie County doctors and patients in need.
"We do know there are some patients and doctors from Erie County who really can't wait too much longer and are ready and wanting to use our facility and we are certainly open to doing that and accommodating them" said McCaffrey.
Jody Lomeo, President & CEO of Kaleida Health, said, “Governor Cuomo is taking a proactive approach and outlining a process to safely open upstate New York. We applaud him for this and look forward to working with his team, Lt. Governor Hochul and the State Department of Health in the coming days and weeks. In particular, we are eager to learn more about the policy regarding safely resuming hospital operations including elective surgeries.”