If you are having any symptoms such as aches, shortness of breath, or coughing, you should avoid holiday gatherings to prevent the spread of illness to your friends and family. Doctors say continuing to practice hand washing and social distancing like at the height of the pandemic is the best way to not catch viruses.
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A usual day for one Lima Memorial Health System doctor is to see his patients during the day, but then officiate a local high school game in the evening. Dr. Dennis Morris is the Chief Medical Officer at Lima Memorial Health System, but is also a official in a variety of sports at various level across the state of Ohio.
The health commissioners of Allen, Auglaize, and Putnam Counties echoed seeing a downtick in numbers from the Thanksgiving holiday, but they believe some of that downward trend may be from people testing at home and not necessarily reporting positive cases to their local health department. St. Rita’s is currently housing 65 COVID patients, and Lima Memorial has 30. Those with the hospitals say that that’s a slight decrease in numbers, but they're nowhere near out of the woods just yet.
We are just days away from Christmas, and local health officials are afraid that people will be sharing more than joy when they get together with friends and family. They say a recent surge of COVID- 19 cases and hospitalizations is partially to blame because of Thanksgiving gatherings. Around 90% of the people admitted into local hospitals with the coronavirus are unvaccinated. They are afraid that with Christmas and New Year’s Eve a week after, they will continue to see higher numbers of both at the start of 2022.
Starting December 20th, there will be a little over 1,000 guardsmen deployed in hospitals, mostly in the Northeastern part of the state. 150 of the members have medical training and will be helping on the front lines, the other 900 will be used with other duties like transportation and food service. The Ohio Department of Health is also working with a staffing company to bring in additional medical help from outside the state. As for the Lima hospitals, staffing is an ongoing concern.
Lima Memorial Health System continues to make their reputation known in the world of robotic surgery with their newest advancements, a first for our region. The Mazor X™ Robotic Guideline Platform has made Lima Memorial only the third health system in Ohio to implement this type of technology for spinal surgery. The robot is used to guide the surgeon with more precision, not replace them.
It’s been nearly two months that we’ve been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Ohio takes a step forward on Friday opening some businesses. So, Allen County Public Health, the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce, and both Lima hospitals tell us where we’ve been and how we go forward. May 1 marks the opening of dentists, veterinarians, and people may now get elective procedures done with their health care provider, as long as it doesn’t require an overnight stay.
With Easter being only days away, Lima Memorial Hospital is reminding everyone to continue practicing social distancing through the holiday. The Chief Medical Officer at Lima Memorial, Dr. Dennis Morris, knows that holidays are meant for gathering around friends and family, but at a time during a pandemic it’s important that we restrain from doing anything that might set back any progress we have made.