CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston Area Medical Center President and CEO Dave Ramsey says the hospital could gear up in quick fashion when Gov. Jim Justice lifts certain executive orders on hospitals due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Ramsey appeared on Monday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline’ to give an update on how his hospital system is doing during the pandemic. He said the hospital’s current census is down 150 patients a day.
On March 31, Justice announced an executive order in place in West Virginia forbidding all elective medical procedures. Ramsey said since then surgery volumes are down 50 percent.
“We would love to be back to normal operations, have all our employees come back to work full-time, get our patients back to our physician offices,” he said.
Ramsey added that around 1,450 employees out of the 7,000 in the company are having hours slashed drastically due to services being halted.
“Some are taking a day off a week, some two days off a week, some a full week,” Ramsey said. “We are having to send some people home because there’s no work for them to do.
“That’s a big chunk of our employees.”
Dave Ramsey, Charleston Area Medical Center President, speaks with @HoppyKercheval about the latest effects of COVID-19 on the hospital. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/Pk5eB9DuGW
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) April 13, 2020