NBC4: Healthcare Opening Aims to Keep Public Healthy

As OhioHealth works to make certain elective surgeries and procedures available beginning May 1, public safety and risk mitigation remain top priority.

Currently, all operations and procedures must be outpatient. Per orders from Gov. Mike DeWine, elective surgeries that would require overnight stays in the hospital are not permitted at this time.

“This designation is not only to help preserve resources but also to keep patients in the medical facilities for as short a time as possible to continue minimizing the risk of exposure,” Shay O’Mara, MD, OhioHealth system chief for trauma surgery and surgical lead for OhioHealth's back to business team, told NBC4 reporter Whitney Harding.

Dr. O’Mara encourages people to continue scheduling appointments, tests and screenings.

“Our hospitals look much better, but we need to now have the freedom to bring people in, show them that and get them what they need,” he said. “That’s what we really need to reassure people: our hospitals have become very safe places, probably safer than we were before because of everything we have implemented.”