TAMPA, Fla. — Baycare Health Systems hospitals in Pinellas, Pasco, and Polk county have put all elective procedures on pause, effective Saturday, Aug. 14. Hillsborough County Baycare Hospitals stopped performing elective procedures earlier this month.
The reason? A rise in COVID-19 hospitalization over the last 6 weeks.
"The reason we're doing this is because we need the bed capacity," explained Dr. Nishant Anand, the chief medical officer for Baycare. "We need the ventilators. We need all the supplies to be able to take care of this increasing COVID epidemic we're having."
Anand said Baycare hospitals have seen a 10-fold increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since early July, creating the need to shift staff.
When you hear 'elective procedure' you may think of a cosmetic or unnecessary surgery. Elective procedures include any type of non-emergency surgery that is scheduled, such as a hip replacement surgery, removal of a cancerous tumor, or an organ transplant.
An adenoidectomy also falls under the 'elective procedure' umbrella. Giovanni Galarza, 4, was scheduled to have this surgery. It has since been canceled twice, with the Baycare Health Systems hospital telling his mother it was because of the rising COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Giovanni's enlarged adenoids make it tough for him to breathe, especially at night.
"We did all the pre-op appointments via telephone," said Seanna Galarza, Gio's mom. "Then they called and said it was canceled."
Galarza said she called every hospital administrator she could find to get her son's surgery back on the books. She was successful and the surgery was rescheduled.
She took her son to get his pre-op blood work and a COVID-19 test. As they were waiting in line, the hospital calls.
"I get a call from his surgeon saying his surgery is completely off," said Galarza. "And I kind of lost it. I just put him through blood work."
Her son has autism. She said she had to cancel therapy appointments and rearrange his schedule for a surgery that was canceled twice.
"It's just kind of frustrating," said Galarza. "He's going to continue to suffer for an indefinite time, I have no idea"
Leaving both Galarza and her son to deal with sleepless nights.