Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center to postpone all elective surgeries

LAKELAND, Fla. - Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center will postpone all non-urgent, elective surgeries, including same-day operations, beginning Monday, August 23 due to a high number of COVID-19 cases in the community and an increase in patient volume. The hospital says this is in addition to its decision to postpone all elective surgeries that require an overnight stay as of August 16.  

Emergency surgeries and procedures for serious, life-threatening medical conditions will not be impacted. The hospital says patients with surgeries or procedures affected by this change will be notified directly about rescheduling.

"It is a difficult decision to make, as we know every surgery is important, but the ever-growing demand for capacity to care for both those with COVID-19 and our patients with other serious conditions has led us to make this change," said Danielle Drummond, MS, FACHE, President and CEO of Lakeland Regional Health. "We will reevaluate in a few weeks, but for now, this move allows us to create even more physical capacity and provides us with additional clinicians to help care for the high census of patients at our Medical Center."

Lakeland Regional Health says it will continue to monitor the situation and will make additional changes as necessary amid the pandemic.

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