Onslow Memo­r­i­al Hos­pi­tal Resumes Pri­or­i­ty Sur­gi­cal and Out­pa­tient Procedures

ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C - Onslow Memorial Hospital (OMH) leadership announced that, as part of their transformational recovery plan, they have resumed priority surgical and outpatient procedures. This announcement comes after OMH suspended elective procedures and surgeries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The decision to postpone surgical and outpatient procedures was not made lightly,” said OMH President and CEO, Dr. Penney Burlingame Deal, DHA, RN, FACHE. “However, the safety of everyone involved was at the forefront of our decision making. Since March, we have learned much more about COVID-19 as a healthcare system and we understand that we must operate in a prolonged phase of a new normal. Doing so will require us to be nimble and innovative.”

The transformational recovery plan includes a phased, progressive approach to re-open the hospital while considering new and inventive approaches to care. For surgeries and outpatient procedures, the first phase identifies patients whose surgeries or procedures were postponed early in the pandemic and determines those who have the most immediate needs. Typically, these are cases that must be performed in the next one to four weeks.

“We know that many of our patients are ready to schedule their surgical procedures, but are also anxious due to the ongoing pandemic,” said Michael Josilevich, MD. “With that in mind, we have developed a robust and multi-faceted approach to ensure the safest possible environment for our patients, employees and providers. Our care teams are dedicated to working closely with infection preventionists and other experts to provide the highest level of quality in this new environment.” Dr. Josilevich is Chief of Staff at OMH and a Board Certified Physician at Onslow Internal Medicine and Primary Care.

Patients can expect an abundance of safety measures as part of the transformational recovery. These include, but are not limited to, COVID-19 screenings and masks for patients, added sanitizing procedures, extensive health checks and additional PPE for staff, and telehealth services for outpatient visits.