As expected during the month of March and April, the hospitals and surgery centers where we perform all of our surgeries stopped allowing for ‘elective’ cases. The vast majority of the patients that we see unfortunately fell into this category. Due to the inability for us to schedule new surgeries, and having to cancel already scheduled patients, along with the desire to avoid public contact, we proceeded with canceling our office hours and scheduled surgeries as of Friday March 20th.
As of May 1st, the rollback of the stay-at-home orders and the loosening of the quarantine allows many of our local medical centers to begin scheduling elective surgeries. Therefore, as of late April, we have begun rescheduling previously canceled patients and will be seeing new patients starting May 4th.
Detailed Overview
We understand that over the past 4-6 weeks many aspects of our patients lives have been dramatically impacted. We are hopeful that with the reopening of elective scheduled surgeries that we can help take care of those patients that have been in need of surgery for weeks. All of our local hospitals and surgery centers are reopening as of May 1st. However, there will be some limitations on the volume of surgeries that we can schedule to ensure that both patients and staff are in a safe environment. This will unfortunately mean that it will take additional days to get our patients surgeries completed. We appreciate your understanding as we try to get all of our patients taken care of as quickly as possible.
We will be implementing additional as well as extended office hours to meet the needs of our patients. We will be extending our surgical ‘block time’ and providing additional operating room days. This may include weekends as needed during the initial weeks after our facilities reopen.
As you will read below, patients who were canceled will be given first priority when our office reopens. In essence, patients will not ‘lose their place in line’ due to these cancelations. This is the fairest way to treat all of our patients who have been affected by this situation. Please be respectful of our staff who are going to be doing the best that they can in getting all of our patients taken care of as quickly as possible.
Patients Who Had Surgery Scheduled
Clearly these patients are the ones who are in the most difficult position. We know that many patients have disabling symptoms which is why they presented to our office in the first place and delaying their surgery is the last thing that we want to have happen. As stated above, all of our surgical facilities have gone to an ’emergency only’ capacity. This allows for patients with cancer, infections and trauma to be treated efficiently but obviously limits patients with less severe symptoms.
As we discussed above, patients who have their surgery canceled will be given first priority when our office reopens. In essence, patients will not ‘lose their place in line’ due to these cancelations. We have a detailed spreadsheet listing exactly which patients were scheduled and when they were scheduled. Once our facilities reopen for elective cases, we will be contacting patients in the order that they were previously scheduled. This is the fairest way to treat all of our patients who have been affected by this situation. Please be respectful of our staff who are going to be doing the best that they can in getting all of our patients taken care of as quickly as possible.
Providing our office with an up-to-date email address will help us communicate with you during and after this temporary situation. Please feel free to email your name and when your appointment was initially scheduled to admin@CaliforniaSurgerySpecialists.com. This help expedite you being rescheduled as soon as possible.
If you think that your hernia is becoming ‘strangulated’ or is becoming an emergency, we would advise you to proceed to your nearest emergency room to be evaluated and if indicated, treated.
Patients Who Had a Consultation Scheduled
We appreciate you choosing our center for your surgical care. We assure you that we take your health and your situation extremely seriously and have the utmost desire to get you treated and back to 100% as soon as possible. Clearly this situation is out of our control so your patience is greatly appreciated. As with patients who were already scheduled for surgery but had to be canceled, patients who had a consultation with our office will be given first priority in our office schedule once we reopen. In essence, patients will not ‘lose their place in line’ due to these cancelations. We have a detailed spreadsheet listing exactly which patients were scheduled and when they were scheduled.
As we mentioned above, once our surgical facilities reopen for elective surgeries, we will be reopening our office for consultations. We will extend office hours and add additional dates as needed to ensure that all of our patients get seen promptly. We have the flexibility to increase office hours dramatically if needed so we encourage you to stick with us during these unique times.
Dr. Harris, Thank you for saving Justin’s life. You saw how much he suffered. When no pediatric surg/gi would touch him, you saved him!
