Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health Alert:
For the current time, Sovereign’s Affiliated Surgery Centers are Only Accepting Patients Needing Urgent/Essential Surgeries and Procedures.
To ensure the greatest safety of patients, employees, physicians and our communities, and to ensure we maintain medical supplies and equipment that is in scarce supply, Sovereign and its affiliated centers have adopted policies that limit the surgeries and procedures in our facilities to only those that are urgent and essential.
For those patients who fall into these categories, our centers remain open for care and our teams are taking extra precautions to ensure patient safety. These policies are outlined below:
-
- If you have fever, cough, body aches and/or shortness of breath; or
- If you (or someone close to you) have recently traveled outside the USA, have been on a cruise ship within the past two weeks, or have had close contact with someone who recently has been diagnosed with coronavirus (COVID-19),
Do NOT come to the center. Please call us for further instructions.
If you are having severe symptoms such as shortness of breath, please call 911 and seek emergency care.
Ensuring the safety of our patients is our utmost priority, and while the Coronavirus is a concern for some, we want you to know that we are closely monitoring the situation and taking steps to keep everyone as safe as possible.
Not only are our centers accredited by the Ambulatory Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and Medicare certified to ensure your safety, we have also taken extra steps to follow CDC and WHO Guidelines regarding COVID-19.
Ambulatory Surgery Centers vs. Hospitals
Ambulatory Surgery Centers, like ours, are quite different from hospitals. If you have a procedure scheduled at one of our surgery centers, you meet certain health criteria that allows you to have your procedure completed outside of the hospital environment. Unlike having a procedure at a hospital where symptomatic/sick individuals are constantly entering and being cared for, surgery centers have always been facilities for patients who are well and symptom free. Our infection control and sterilization practices are already as rigorous as possible, and all guidance suggests there is no increased risk during this time. But even though our centers have always maintained these high standards, all Sovereign-affiliated centers have implemented new protocols during this time with extra layers of screening, policies for our employees, doctors and allied health professionals, and other measures restricting access to patient care areas to ensure we are doing everything possible to mitigate any risks.
Stay Informed
The CDC has the most current information about the virus, including everything you need to know about how the virus spreads, how it’s treated, how to protect yourself, and what to do if you get sick. Stay on top of the latest news by visiting the following websites, which are being updated frequently.
- CDC COVID-19 Information
- CDC COVID-19 FAQs
- CDC Guidance for Travelers
- CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus
- Orange County Health Care Agency FAQs
- Orange County Health Care Agency – Novel Coronavirus What You Should Know
- World Health Organization – Emerging Respiratory Viruses, including nCov: Methods for detection, prevention, response and control