DUBOIS – Penn Highlands Healthcare has furloughed staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a teleconference with Penn Highlands Healthcare officials Tuesday, David Trudell, director of marketing; Mark Norman, chief operations officer; and Shaun Sheehan, COVID-19 task force leader, discussed the latest developments and answered questions from the media.
Norman said the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in “unprecedented changes” in the healthcare system. Norman said due to revenue decreases and the suspension of elective services, the hospital has had to reassess their financial situation.
Norman said while the hospitals have not seen a surge in COVID-19 cases, as there have been in other areas of the country, there has been a decrease in other services. He said many patients have been cancelling appointments and other medical care.
Norman said in the past two to three weeks, there has been a 59 percent decrease in doctor’s appointments and an 83 percent decrease in surgeries.
He said this equates to a 40 percent decrease in revenue. He said this decrease has necessitated furloughing roughly 600 of Penn Highlands 4,400 employees.
The furloughs are as follows: PH Brookville – 24; PH Clearfield – 43; PH DuBois – 338; PH Elk – 65; PH Huntingdon – 66; and Penn Highlands Corporate offices – 49.
Norman said the remaining staff will be “redeployed” to staff the in-patient facilities. He said the hospital has opted to furlough the employees, in order to facilitate a speedy turn-around in bringing the staff back when the situation improves.
“This was a very tough decision, due to the hospital being in an aggressive growth mode,” Norman said. “We will be applying for grants and loans; however, loans will still need to be repaid and we don’t believe the funding will be adequate to cover our losses.”
Sheehan stressed that even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was important for patients to continue to tend to their every-day health. Sheehan said it was a “tough decision” to conduct the workforce adjustments but urged patients to continue with their regular healthcare.
Sheehan said Penn Highlands Healthcare was offering virtual appointments via the “My Health Now” application and encouraged patients to take advantage of this service, instead of simply canceling appointments which have already been scheduled.
“We’ve got over 200 providers trained to help patients during these tele-med calls,” Sheehan said. “It’s a safe and effective way for patients to continue their health care.”
Sheehan said with the increases in stress and anxiety, due to the ongoing pandemic, Penn Highlands Healthcare has added Behavioral Health services and Physical Therapy services to the “My Health Now.”
He said there has been an 800 percent increase in the number of downloads for the “My Health Now” application and encourages others to take advantage of the service.
He said the application is private and secure, as well as meeting all HIPPA requirements.
During the question and answer segment of the teleconference, Sheehan said judging from the date being collected by John Hopkins Institute, he believes the virus has begun to reach it’s “peak.”
He said while it’s a “consideration” to potentially re-open areas with small numbers of COVID-19 cases, any business looking to re-open will not be able to jump right in to “business as usual.”
Sheehan said business must still follow the regulations set forth by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He said these regulations can be found on the “industry tab” for businesses for safe operations on the CDC Web site.
He said there is still the risk from asymptomatic patients so it’s vital to continue keeping physical distances.
Sheehan said the nursing home facilities within the Penn Highlands Healthcare network are doing well. He said the staff is working hard to help the residents during these times of restricted visitation.
He said the staff has been holding a lot of activities and assisting the residents in using Facetime and Skype to communicate with loved ones. He said members of the community are encouraged to use the facility Web sites in order to send e-cards to the residents.
Sheehan then gave an update on the staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19. He said as of the time of the conference call, no other staff members have tested positive and they believe it was an “isolated incident.” Sheehan said the hospitals are using “many layers” of protection to keep the staff safe.
Sheehan said he feels the supply of testing kits for the area is “adequate” and the hospitals are slowly expanding their criteria for testing.
He said that criteria includes those who are exhibiting symptoms, such as coughing, shortness of breath, fevers, those working as public servants (police and EMTs), individuals with symptoms who also have chronic lung issues, such as asthma or COPD, anyone over 65 or any patients who are actively receiving chemotherapy treatments.
Sheehan ended by saying there has been a lot of talk about antibody testing for COVID-19. He said as of now, those in the science and medical field are not sure how to interpret the date from the antibody tests.
He said the presence of antibodies could mean anything from the individual has simply been exposed to the virus, to the individual is immune to the virus.
Sheehan stressed that until the antibody tests can be compared with more data from the other forms of COVID-19 testing, it’s hard to say for certain what exactly the presence of antibodies mean.
Sheehan and Norman thanked everyone for their participation and encouraged everyone in the community to continue taking steps to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.