Wood

Wood

LAURINBURG — Nearly 100% of the new COVID-positive patients at Scotland Health Care System are unvaccinated, according to Greg Wood, president and CEO of the system.

“Despite much information about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and its availability, our vaccination rate for our county and region remains fairly stagnant,” he said. “Only 39% of our county’s population is fully vaccinated and that figure has changed very little over the past few weeks.”

On Thursday morning, Wood said the hospital saw 34 new positive COVID patients and, overall, the hospital had 104 patients — more patients that there are intensive-care beds for.

“These volumes are similar to our peak period of last January and the number of positive patients continue to increase,” he added. “So far just this month, we have admitted 40 COVID patients and seven have died.”

Wood emphasized the importance of being vaccinated.

“Without more people getting vaccinated, our health care system will soon be unable to provide the level of care our community deserves,” he said. “I am a strong proponent of individual rights and I encourage everyone to talk with their doctor, read the latest accurate information and choose to get vaccinated.

“It is both unrealistic and unfair to expect our staff to continue to work as hard as they are and put themselves at risk caring for COVID patients when we have a way to stop this raging pandemic,” he added. “We have a very simple and safe solution, and that is for everyone to get vaccinated.”

Clinics reopening

Scotland Health announced on Thursday that, due to the increased demand for vaccination appointments, the drive-thru COVID vaccination clinic will return to the campus of Scotland Memorial Hospital.

Starting Monday, Aug. 23, the easily accessible and convenient drive-thru service will be available Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Covid Appointment Line will open for scheduling starting Monday, Aug. 16. Appointments can be made by calling 291-7654 Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“We are excited to be able to reinstate our drive-thru service,” Wood said. “We are starting to see many of the people who were undecided or who had decided against taking the shot now being vaccinated.

“Please take advantage of the drive-thru clinic to protect yourself, your family and your fellow community members by getting vaccinated,” he added.

Drive-Thru Covid testing will also be available again on the hospital’s campus. No appointment is needed for testing but a doctor’s order from your care provider is required.

Vaccination appointments will continue to be available at SHCS’s five Scotland Physicians Network practices.

Those locations are:

— Harris Family Practice, 700-A Progress Place, Laurinburg (910-276-6767)

— Marlboro Family Practice and Urgent Care, 957 Cheraw St., Bennettsville, SC (843-454-0245)

— Maxton Family Practice, 1001 West Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr., Maxton (910-844-4077)

— Pembroke Family Practice, 410-D South Jones St., Pembroke (910-521-4462)

— Wagram Family Practice, 24420 Marlboro St., Wagram (910-369-3136)

Appointments will be required, and walk-in vaccination services will not be offered. For information, please visit scotlandhealth.org/covid-vaccine.

New visitation policy

In the meantime, Scotland Health Care System has instituted a new visitation policy because of the rising COVID numbers.

Until further notice, the System has suspended visitation in its emergency room and in its physician practices, except under special circumstances “due to the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant” and the growing number of positive patients.

W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].