Wesley, Via Christi ban hospital visitors for most patients as COVID-19 cases rise
As hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients rise in Sedgwick County, the two largest hospital systems in Wichita are banning visitors in most situations.
Wesley Healthcare and Ascension Via Christi announced the visitor restrictions on Thursday, a day after county officials downgraded the area hospital status assessment for the first time.
“We have seen a significant increase in local infection rates, as well as in hospitalizations throughout Wichita, and are taking this step once again to protect our patients, visitors, physicians and colleagues from potential exposure,” said Bill Voloch, president and CEO of Wesley Healthcare, in a news release. “We understand how difficult it can be for patients and families. However, we feel this is a necessary step toward keeping our facility as safe as possible for those who come here for the care they need.”
Wesley’s policy, which begins at 1 p.m. Friday at Wesley Medical Center and Wesley Woodlawn Hospital & ER, carves out a few exceptions that will allow visitors in the hospitals.
One to two parents or guardians will be allowed for infants and pediatric patients, one parent or guardian may stay overnight for pediatric patients or neonatal intensive care unit babies, one person may be there as support for laboring mothers and new moms, one person will be allowed to support patients with disabilities or impairments who need assistance and one patient advocate will be allowed before and after surgery.
At Ascension Via Christi’s Wichita hospitals, the restricted visitor policy goes into effect at 8 a.m. Saturday. Exceptions allow one visitor for labor and delivery, pediatrics, pre- and post-operative care and the newborn and pediatric intensive care units. End-of-life situations will be addressed case by case.
“We appreciate the role family plays in the healing process and the importance of the presence of loved ones during family milestones,” said Sam Antonios, chief medical officer for Ascension Via Christi’s Wichita hospitals, in a statement. “However, our first priority is to protect our patients and staff and help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”
Wesley officials said visitors will be screened and must wear masks.
“Any visitor who screens positive for a respiratory illness will not be allowed to enter,” Wesley officials said in a news release. “There will be no exceptions to this rule. Some exceptions may be allowed for end-of-life situations or extenuating circumstances.”
The visitor bans come as cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations for the coronavirus disease are increasing in Sedgwick County. Various face mask orders have been issued.
“We hope that recent masking orders in Wichita and Sedgwick County have the desired effect in helping to reduce the rate of infection among local residents,” said Lowell Ebersole, Wesley Healthcare’s chief medical officer, in a statement. “I cannot stress enough how important masking will be in our effort to reduce the impact COVID-19 will continue to have on our community, and we urge everyone to wear a mask in public, maintain proper social distancing and perform regular hand hygiene to help us get the situation under control.”
The number of local deaths has not increased in two weeks, but total cases have increased 79%, active cases have risen 175%, recoveries went up 29% and the number of people tested has gone up 36%.
Garold Minns, the county health officer and dean of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, said last week that hospital officials were concerned about the trajectory in cases. County officials also report that there has been an increase in hospital staff who have contracted COVID-19 or who are quarantined as a result of exposure to the virus.
The county health department’s online pandemic dashboard shows that 32 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized as of Monday. Intensive care units have admitted 10 of those patients. An additional 31 patients are under investigation and may or may not be hospitalized.
The 32 hospitalizations is an increase of 60% from June 29 while the 10 ICU admissions is a decrease of 33%. The 31 patients under investigation is up about 107%. The approximate number of ICU beds available, which depends on staff availability, increased from 20 to 25.
The county’s dashboard does not list hospital information prior to June 29.
The new way of reporting hospitalization numbers represents how many patients there were on Mondays. It replaced the old system that showed admissions and discharges by week, which did not provide the exact number of current hospitalizations or the hospital capacity.
Wednesday was the first time the hospitalization section of the county’s dashboard indicated the area hospital status assessment is “moderate” with a yellow exclamation point. It had previously said “good” with a green check mark.
A county spokesperson told The Eagle on Thursday that there is no specific list of criteria for determining the hospital status. The county manager decides the status after speaking with hospital officials about the situation.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 7:18 PM.