August 18, 2021, Tillamook, Ore. – In order to address the influx of patients needing testing and treatment of COVID, Adventist Health Tillamook Medical Center is pausing elective surgeries for the remainder of the week, and the week of August 22. The decision to continue pausing elective surgeries will be made on a week-by-week basis until the surge of COVID patients subsides, and does not affect emergent or urgent surgery cases.
Supporting this surge requires additional staff support at the Tillamook medical center, and some coastal clinic schedules may adjust temporarily.
This may affect our Manzanita, and Pacific City locations temporarily. Patients who have scheduled appointments with a provider in these clinics will be notified if their appointments need to be rescheduled. To maintain hospital and clinic capacity for patients in urgent need, it is essential for those who have COVID and are not yet showing symptoms or are only mildly ill should quarantine in their homes. Only those with severe symptoms such as difficulty breathing, becoming confused or especially hard to wake, persistent chest pain/pressure, or developing bluish lips/face should seek care at the Emergency Department.
It is also important to restate that Adventist Health Tillamook believes the evidence of getting a vaccine to be clear. Even immunized people have been shown to transmit the disease before becoming symptomatic, underscoring that mask use for everyone. All of the COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and are highly recommended. We encourage all patients and associates to get the vaccine immediately and follow recently announced state-wide mask usage mandates.
Adventist Health Tillamook is part of Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system
serving more than 75 communities in California, Hawaii and Oregon. Their workforce of 32,900 includes
more than 23,600 employees; nearly 5,000 medical staff physicians; and 4,350 volunteers. Founded on
Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides compassionate care in 19 hospitals, more than 260 clinics (hospital-based, rural health and physician clinics), 15 home care agencies, seven hospice agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers. Visit AdventistHealthTillamook.org for more information.