St. Joseph Hospital prepares for what State health order might mean for Humboldt County

Link

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

EUREKA, Calif. (KIEM) — While the state’s recent health order does not apply to Humboldt County at the moment, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka is preparing for what things may look like if we reach that point.

Right now, elective surgeries are still allowed to go on as planned, but the surgery review committee, which was recently reinstated, has chosen to defer some surgeries or a time when there is less demand on the ICU. This is to ensure the best post-op care, and also ensure adequate capacity for the rest of the community.

The order also allows for patient transfers in and out of Humboldt, but according to St. Joseph Health Chief Executive Dr. Roberta Luskin-Hawk, that seems to be unlikely due to our distance from other areas in the state. So far, no requests have been made for any transfers.

“We would try to avoid taking too many patients because our health care infrastructure has its limitations and we want to preserve it for the people who live in Humboldt primarily, and Del Norte,” Luskin-Hawk says.