UPDATE: Northwest Health is delaying some surgeries at all five of its Northwest Arkansas hospitals.
FAYETTEVILLE -- Northwest Health is delaying some surgeries at its Bentonville and Springdale hospitals to free up hospital resources amid the covid-19 pandemic, a spokeswoman said.
"We are suspending all scheduled, discretionary, non-life-saving surgeries to conserve our resources for the delivery of urgent medical need, effective March 23. Emergency and scheduled, clinically necessary surgeries to intervene in a serious or life-threatening condition will continue," Beth Wright, spokeswoman, said.
Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas and Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville have made similar decisions in the past week. North Hills Surgery Center in Fayetteville temporarily closed. The center does "non-urgent, elective procedures for conditions that are not life threatening," according to a news release from the surgery center.
Medical Associates of Northwest Arkansas, which has several clinics throughout the region, has stopped doing breast cancer screenings and colonoscopies, said Carole Masterson, spokeswoman.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends hospitals reschedule elective surgeries as necessary, according to the organization's website.
Dr. C. Lowry Barnes, chairman of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, said elective surgeries that can be delayed generally include anything that isn't truly urgent. UAMS, for example, is delaying most knee and hip replacements but will still repair fractures, Barnes said.
Many surgeries will need to be handled on a case-by-case basis between patients and their doctors, and doctors should weigh the risks of delaying surgeries, he said. For example, cancer patients with scheduled surgeries to remove tumors may be able to wait six weeks but not three months, he said.
NW News on 03/24/2020