Following last week’s announcements of service adjustments made by the Greene County Medical Center, the entity’s top official is commenting on those changes.

The medical center announced that they will continue to have a full surgical schedule through December 18th. Then from December 19th-January 17th all elective surgeries will be temporarily suspended. CEO Tracy Warner tells Raccoon Valley Radio, the nursing staff from that department will be redeployed to help other areas of the hospital and take on the expected increase in COVID-19 cases from the holiday season. 

Another decision the medical center made was to close the women’s health clinic, effective at the end of February. Warner notes the decision to close the clinic was due to the low volume of patients, but that those services can still be utilized through the Greene County Family Medicine Clinic. She points out that while the Hospital Board of Trustees gave the final approval to these changes, their decision was based off the hospital’s leadership recommendations.

“So the Board is very much in fulfilling their oversight role to make sure that we’re functioning effectively and as efficiently as possible, and that includes using our county tax dollars appropriately.”

While this year has certainly been a difficult one and these changes haven’t been easy, Warner says they are continuing to review and use human resources to effectively operate services. 

“We have placed a hold on requisitions right now while we evaluate our staffing needs, with the exception of those positions that are critical for our operations. But really being able to evaluate human resources and again making sure that we’re effectively meeting the need across our organization and using those human resources effectively.”

As the pandemic allows, the medical center plans to resume surgeries starting January 18th for general surgery, podiatry, orthopedics and cataract procedures.