Evangelical Community Hospital CEO Kendra Aucker assured the public Friday that all measures are being taken to safeguard patients and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A day after the hospital reported its first two patients testing positive for coronavirus, Aucker said Evangelical staff are prepared to care for any additional people who must be treated.

“We have been refining our pandemic plans since January,” Aucker said during a teleconference with the media. “This is one of the most challenging things to keep up with.”

The hospital had tested 155 people for coronavirus as of Friday.

Aucker said businesses and individuals have generously donated supplies to the hospital and at this time the hospital has an adequate supply of

respirators.

Meanwhile, blood supplies for the hospital remain at normal levels, but the public is still encouraged to donate.

Some staff were furloughed and the hospital stopped performing elective surgeries.

“We recently condensed services. We don’t have plans at this time to hire additional staff,” Aucker said. “We are going to optimize what we have.”

Aucker noted an agreement between Evangelical and Geisinger in Danville for coronavirus patient care.

We do have plans in place where we can transfer the sickest of patients to Geisinger and they can send their less sick patients to us,” she said. “This is how you work together in a crisis.”

Hospital officials remain concerned over the possibility of prisoners potentially infected with coronavirus being transported from other prisons to federal prisons in Allenwood or Lewisburg.

“That can mean an increase in infection in our region,” Aucker said. “We are concerned about being able to balance the prison population with the greater community.”

When asked about President Donald Trump’s hope to have the nation up and running and back to normal by Easter, she said, “That is an admirable goal, but if you look at the science behind this, mid-April is probably an extremely aggressive goal. I don’t think science warrants that.”

She said the federal $2.2 trillion stimulus plan is certainly welcome for health care providers including its provisions for Medicare.