Since Kalispell Regional Healthcare decided to once again offer operative surgeries and interventional services in late April, hospital officials say the system is offering all services, but at a lower capacity, and about 60% of furloughed employees have come back to work — trends they hope further progress in the coming weeks.

Doug Nelson, chief medical officer for Kalispell Regional, said patient volumes decreased dramatically in April and May. Those volumes slowly started to increase as Kalispell Regional began offering elective surgeries and other services, but it may take some time before the hospital sees normal in-person patient volumes and before the system is back to full, pre-furlough staffing levels.

“Even though we have progressively offered more services and brought in more employees that were furloughed, we are still experiencing lower patient capacities,” Nelson explained. “Many people are still opting for telehealth services and even though we have taken precautionary steps to make sure the hospital is safe for patients and staff, we think it will be awhile before people feel fully comfortable.”

Hospital officials decided to cancel elective surgeries and other non-emergency procedures in March in order to ensure enough personal protective equipment, beds and staff were available to address Flathead County’s novel coronavirus outbreak. Shortly after, 600 employees were furloughed and salaries for physicians and executive directors were cut in an effort to combat major revenue losses from procedure cancellations, slashed patient volumes and more.

At the time, hospital CEO Chief Lambrecht said the hospital system was poised to lose in excess of $16 million per month and said “cost-cutting efforts have been underway, but unfortunately those efforts alone cannot remedy the significance of these losses at a time when we must safeguard a clinical stabilization program.”

But Flathead County has now gone more than 50 days with no new confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus despite continued testing efforts. Nelson said he hopes this trend continues so the community and hospital can continue its slow amble back to normalcy, assuming there isn’t an uptick in local cases.

Nelson said the daily reports of zero new cases have continued despite a slight increase in county testing. This increase, however, is due in part to Kalispell Regional’s requirement that individuals be tested prior to elective operative procedures and a ramp up in testing of those admitted to the emergency room. It can also be contributed to the hospital recent decision to start testing every patient who is admitted to the hospital, in addition to those who are preparing for surgery.

The slight bump up in testing can also be traced back to Gov. Steve Bullock’s request that any Montanan experiencing even one symptom of the coronavirus be tested. It is Bullock’s hope, and the hope of many other state officials throughout the United States, that more widespread testing will provide a more robust coronavirus dataset and clearer picture of the public health threat they are up against.

Nelson said the hospital still has “somewhat limited” testing capacity, but is currently waiting on a large shipment of testing supplies.

But in the meantime, he said nursing homes and assisted-living facilities throughout the valley have been testing their residents and employees because older adults fall into a high-risk category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When Bullock announced his framework for ramping up Montana’s testing in late April, he said assisted-living facilities and nursing homes would be prioritized for testing along with tribal communities.

“That is just a tremendously vulnerable population,” Nelson said. “We have been very intentional in providing these high-risk groups with priority testing.”

As one example, Nelson said all residents and employees at Kalispell Regional’s Brendan House were recently tested. All results came back negative.

NELSON ALSO expressed slight concerns regarding the Flathead Valley heading into tourist season.

The governor’s requirement that out-of-state travelers quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in the state was lifted June 1, and Glacier National Park announced Tuesday the park will open to visitors on Monday.

“When the park opens our valley sees a huge influx of people; it’s a big economic driver, too, so obviously tourists are welcomed. But many of our cases and many of the cases in Montana have been related to travel,” Nelson said. “We’ve chosen to be somewhat more restrictive in our health-care facilities.”

Nelson said Kalispell Regional is recommending out-of-state individuals seeking non-emergency services at the hospital quarantine for 14 days beforehand or hold off on their procedures. He said these recommendations extend primarily to those traveling by airplane, train or bus from high-risk areas and international locations — something the patients are not required to provide proof of.

“This is really on the honor system, just like a lot of things surrounding this virus,” Nelson said. “We hope that visitors are honest about where they’ve been and how they got there. We are asking that they pay attention to precautions they can take to help stop the spread of disease.”

The 14-day quarantine extends to hospital employees that have engaged in out-of-state as well.

For more information on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus or for more Kalispell Regional updates, go to www.krh.org

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com