Pages

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Olean General Hospital Admits First COVID-19 Patient Who Is From Allegany County - in the ICU

March 28, 2020- Olean General Hospital was notified that a patient evaluated and admitted to the hospital on Wednesday tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
The patient is not on a ventilator and is currently recovering in the hospital’s intensive care unit. The patient did not come in contact with any other patients at OGH. Hospital staff who examined and continue to treat the patient are using all appropriate measures to avoid potential exposure to the virus. This includes use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
The patient is a 35-year-old female from Allegany County.
The Cattaraugus County Department of Health is conducting its standard investigation and tracking of the patient and the patient’s contacts.
“We cannot thank our staff enough for their commitment to patient and employee safety at OGH,” said Jeff Zewe, RN, president and CEO of Upper Allegheny Health System (UAHS).
Early in March, UAHS and its member hospitals, Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical Center, established an organization-wide coronavirus steering committee and command center operation to address this pandemic. The group has been coordinating emergency preparedness, response efforts, as well as daily communication with federal, state and county agencies.
“We are so proud of the preparedness and effort put forth to help ensure the health and safety of our employees, our patients and the community at large,” Zewe said.  “Our thoughts are with the patient during recovery,” Zewe said.
______________________________
A point of clarification from Olean General.  There have been a number of misstatements and rumors on social media and websites relative to the efforts by Olean General Hospital and Bradford Regional Medical to increase bed capacity at both hospitals in anticipation of a potential surge in COVID-19 patients.  These rumors suggest that patients will be flown into our hospitals from outside the region. This is not true.  Our goal is to create enough capacity to serve local needs. There is no expectation, nor have there been any indications that patients will be coming into our facilities from outside the region. At this point, we do not think it is likely we will be seeing patients from other areas.