DES MOINES, Iowa — In an effort to continue giving high-quality care and alleviating overworked staff, leadership at Blank Children's Hospital decided this week to temporarily suspend scheduled elective surgeries.
Several factors went into the decision, including:
- an uptick of trauma patients usually seen during the summer months
- increase in respiratory illness cases
- staffing shortage
Dr. Wendy Woods-Swafford, Chief Medical Officer at Blank Children's Hospital said it's been a packed medical center since June.
"But I think, you know, we're definitely more active right now, we have a variant that is far more contagious than we have dealt with before," said Woods-Swafford. "It just coincides with our return to, we know our hope and our return to normal activities. But it happens to compound on all the other things that we're used to seeing and taking care of people for. So it makes it feel absolutely overwhelming."
The temporary suspension of elective surgeries will put some families in a bind. Woods-Swafford said summer is the typical time of year when parents want to schedule these types of surgeries for their children before the school year begins.
"This is the one thing we can do to be really mindful and to make sure that we are taking care of those urgent cases and providing that safe and quality care," said Woods-Swafford.
Blank Children's Hospital isn't seeing the same surge in pediatric COVID-19 patients as other parts of the country, but Woods-Swafford said more cases could arrive as the school year begins.
"There's that potential, definitely, and we just have to be cautious and protect those that we can," said Woods-Swafford.
There isn't a timeline for when the suspension will be lifted.
Watch: Iowa educators process the news from the CDC about universal masking for students and teachers.