Hospital is fully operational

Updated 5:05 pm

All departments and services at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital are back open, and hospital officials are urging those who need care to make an appointment.

As the state continues on phase three of its reopening plan, chief nurse and operating officer Clare Seguin urged those who need care to come into the hospital, which now has every department open.

“If you have a healthcare need, please do not delay your care,” Seguin said. “The folks that are coming here to our emergency department are very, very sick, as though they’ve been putting off that care.”

Seguin added that the hospital is screening, cleaning, and protecting all people coming into their facility.

While all departments are back open, hospital CEO Denise Schepici said wait times will be slightly longer, depending on the area of the hospital, but there are no delays in emergency care. Seguin added that wait times will decrease as the hospital fills in staffing.

The hospital continues to hire staffing through the summer. Radiology, in particular, has been an area where staff is needed.

Schepici called the hospital’s call center a “wonderful asset,” which has helped in the triage process. The call center, which was launched late last year, can be reached at 508-684-4500. 

The hospital is also operating at 70 percent of what it usually is during this time of year, according to Schepici. So far the hospital has peaked with about 70 patients a day at the emergency center — that number is usually at 100 during July. Other departments are operating at 50 to 80 percent of what they regularly would. “I wouldn’t say there’s any department that’s 100 percent full right now,” Schepici said. “It’s coming back slowly.”

The hospital continues to ramp up its testing. In total, 2,144 people have been tested for COVID-19 at the hospital. Of those, 32 are positive, 2,053 are negative, and 59 are pending results.

The hospital is still following strict testing criteria for those wanting to be tested. To receive a test at the hospital, patients must either be symptomatic, or asymptomatic in a high-risk category. While there is some provider discretion, the hospital is not providing pre-employment or pre-camp testing.

The hospital does not provide testing for people who are going back to work and don’t meet the criteria, but Island Health Care (IHC) is offering testing to anyone who wants it. Set up at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School with the help of Quest Diagnostics, the community health center has tested 4,435 individuals, 11 of whom have tested positive, 4,239 negative, and 185 pending results.

The boards of health have linked 23 of the confirmed cases to several cases among eight different household groups.

The town of Aquinnah has tested 40 people. All 40 have come back negative.

The Martha’s Vineyard Boards of Health have separately confirmed another positive case, bringing the Island’s total confirmed cases to 44.

The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, town of Aquinnah, boards of health, and TestMV, the testing site at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, each report their own testing numbers. Those numbers are then all compiled by the boards of health.

The actual number of cases can be difficult to count due to lag time and overlaps in testing each day.

Of the 44 cases, 26 are female, and 18 are male. Thirteen of the cases are aged 50-59 years old, nine are 20-29 years old, seven cases are 60-69 years old, six are 30-39 years old, four are 20 years old or younger, three are 40-49, and two are 70 years or older.

The boards of health are also reporting on probable cases. On Tuesday, the Island’s total number of presumed positives is 19, of which 16 were positive antibody tests, and three were symptomatically positive.

Of those, 11 are female and eight are male. Of the 19 presumed positive cases, six are aged 60-69, four are aged 50-59, three are aged 40-49, three are aged 20-29, two are under 20 years old, and one is over the age of 70.

At the state level Tuesday, there were 203 new confirmed cases, bringing the state total to 105,986. In total, 10 new deaths brought the total number of deaths to 8,125. There have been 972,070 tests conducted across Massachusetts.

Starting on Monday, the hospital along with the entire Mass General Brigham system will convert from using paper patient experience surveys to National Research Corporation Health, a survey collection firm that will use technologies such as online surveys and texting to learn about patient experiences at the hospital.

“This feedback allows us to identify opportunities for improvement,” Schepici said. “The voice of the patients truly does make the hospital a better place to give and receive care.”

Seguin stressed the importance of patient experience surveys. She said the new format will allow the hospital to collect more data and improve the hospital experience.

Updated to clarify 44 confirmed cases and add current data. —Ed.