Chamber virtual Business After Hours features NGHS COVID-19 presentation

News

DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Northeast Georgia Health Systems (NGHS) hosted the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce virtual Business After Hours Tuesday, during which staff from the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Lumpkin (NGMC-Lumpkin) provided an update on COVID-19.

Dr. Donna Whitfield, Chief of the Medical Staff said NGHS has administered about 700 COVID-19 tests since the outbreak in March. “I’m sad to say that we have seen two COVID-positive (Lumpkin County) deaths.”

There are currently 10 COVID-positive patients in the Lumpkin County hospital. “I’m proud to report that five of those have been cared for and been able to leave the facility and go back home,” Whitfield said.

So far, Lumpkin County has not seen a spike in coronavirus activity. “Now is not the time to relax, however,” she stated. “We’re not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination.”

Dr. Donna Whitfield

Whitfield warned of a possible second wave. “We understand everybody is ready to go back to some version of normalcy and a normal life and it’s OK to go back to work, we just stress simple precautions. Stick to the basics such as wear a mask, keep your distance from others, cover your coughs and sneezes, wash your hands regularly. All you have to do is look at Hall County to see how quick this virus can spread.”

Wednesday morning, Hall County reported 1,882 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 27 deaths.

Public Relations and Marketing Director Sean Couch explained what data could be found on the website at nghs.com.

Couch said, “It’s everything from what do you need to do if you’re sick, how can you help us during this time how can you donate supplies and material, how can you sew masks and gowns, which we have a critical shortage of right now, how can you access our pastoral care services.”

The website will also show when the coronavirus is projected to hit its peak, which currently is some time around mid-June.

Layne Michell, Executive Administrator of Operations, talked about the growth of NGMC-Lumpkin. “We opened our hospital here with 10 in-patient beds,” he said. “We are currently operating 23 in-patient beds and as of tomorrow, we will be operating 33.

Michell said the Lumpkin and Barrow County hospitals are preparing for a time when the Gainesville campus reaches overflow.

“We have had wonderful, strong (community) support,” Michell said. “That has been very important to the staff. It’s very heartwarming when you have the local restaurants show up at your door with lunch or drive by with some chocolates.”

He added, “We still want to take care of our non-COVID patients. Our ER is not really very busy right now. We’re seeing that patients seem to be a little nervous about coming to the hospital. We want to make sure everyone knows to keep coming. Don’t avoid the hospital.”

 

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top