CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Louis Stokes VA Medical Center is temporarily curtailing nonessential surgeries that require an inpatient stay, it announced Wednesday.
The VA medical center joins other local hospitals in postponing nonessential surgery to cope with a surge of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
The VA medical center will continue performing urgent surgeries and outpatient surgeries, and procedures that do not involve an overnight stay.
“We will be reaching out to impacted patients to review their re-scheduling options,” the VA said.
The Cleveland Clinic announced Tuesday that previously scheduled nonessential surgeries requiring a hospital bed at the Cleveland Clinic are being postponed until later in the month.
MetroHealth System has begun postponing some elective surgeries. University Hospitals is currently rescheduling certain non-urgent surgeries at UH Cleveland Medical Center that require an inpatient stay for a short duration of time.
Hospitals are also making changes in visitation policies.
The Clinic and UH have added new restrictions on patient visitation to cope with the rising number of COVID-19 patients.
Ohio’s late-November and early-December surge in cases is continuing. On Tuesday, the cumulative number of cases went up 7,876, and hospitalizations rose by 612, according to state statistics.
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