Eastern Health - Visitor Precautions

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Visitor Precautions

As of July 13, 2020, Eastern Health is pleased to welcome six designated visitors/support persons for all in-patients in a hospital setting and residents of long-term care, personal care homes, assisted living facilities and community care homes. Visitation hours will be determined by facility and designated visitors are asked to contact the patient’s/resident’s care givers for further information on visitation.

Why?

COVID-19 is highly contagious, and visitor restrictions are in place to reduce the risk of spreading this infectious disease.

By limiting the number of people in our facilities, including patients and clients (by reducing elective and non-urgent tests, procedures and surgeries) and visitors and families (through visitor and family presence restrictions), we are controlling the risk of infection among patients, clients, residents, staff, physicians and their loved ones.

Visitor and family presence restrictions at Eastern Health follow the guidelines and recommendations brought forward by the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health and public health experts.

At Eastern Health we understand this is difficult.

We empathize with all patients, residents and families in all program areas across the organization who have been impacted by visitor and family presence restrictions. Please know that these restrictions are in place to protect everyone.

Hospitals/Acute Care Centres

All in-patients in acute care may now identify six designated visitors/support persons.

While visiting the patient, all designated visitors will be required to wear the mask provided for the duration of their visit. The designated visitors/support persons should not visit any other patient or staff and are asked to go directly to the patient room or visitation space. Each patient will be asked to identify up to six visitors upon admission to acute care and will be advised by their nurse about the visiting process on the unit. Further details on designated visitors/support persons are listed below:

Children who are in-patients can have both parents visit at the same time and there are no restrictions on the number of visits per day.
Additionally, four individuals can be identified as designated visitors and they must contact the hospital unit before visiting to confirm the visiting time and to ensure they are aware of requirements for visitation at the facility.
Obstetrics patients may have one support person who can stay for the duration of the mother and newborn’s stay and can visit as many times as they like throughout the day. Additionally, four designated visitors are permitted after delivery to the time of discharge. For more information, please see: https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/files/Obstetrics-and-Delivery-Visitation-Guidelines.pdf.
For pediatric out-patient appointments, only one parent will be able to attend with their child due to social distancing needs.
Parents attending their child's doctor’s appointments should endeavor to obtain childcare for other children. It is not recommended to bring siblings to appointments.
Patients in intensive care units may have two support persons with them at the same time.
For palliative care, please discuss with the care team. For more information, please see: https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/files/End-of-Life-Visitation-Guidelines.pdf.

For further information on visitor and support person guidelines, please see: https://www.gov.nl.ca/covid-19/guidelines-for-support-person-designated-visitors/.

Long-Term Care

Effective July 13, 2020, residents of long-term care, personal care homes, assisted living facilities and community care homes can identify up to six designated visitors including a support person, and these individuals should remain the same for the duration of the visiting restrictions. A maximum of two people can visit per day, and these two visitors can attend at the same time.

General visiting remains suspended at Alert Level 2. This measure is in place to protect elderly residents, and those with weakened immune systems or underlying medical conditions who are at a higher risk of developing complications from COVID-19. The well-being of people in our residential care settings is paramount.

We are encouraging designated visitors/support persons to consult with the care team and homes at the various facilities for visitation guidelines as these may vary by facility and circumstances.

How can you connect with your loved ones?

These are unprecedented times and we are offering our patients, their families and care partners alternate ways to communicate during limited physical visitation or family presence policies being able to be followed:

Virtual visitation – Long-term care

In long-term care, to ensure that our residents and their loved ones can stay connected during COVID-19, please contact your long-term care facility to book your virtual visitation. Contact information is available at ltc.easterhealth.ca.

Other technology

At this time, we offer free wireless internet access for patients and their families at many of our hospitals and facilities. Consider calling or using video messaging where technology permits.
Many patient beds are equipped with a private telephone. Upon request, according with our inpatient privacy policy, and by following the specific instructions, a telephone service can be provided.

We hope you find comfort through these resources. Remember that visitor and family presence restrictions will save lives during this COVID-19 pandemic.

We thank you for your understanding and collaboration during this unprecedented time.

What are visitor precautions?

Visitor precautions are a series of infection control measures put in place to reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases which are common in health care facilities. They are designed to help keep residents, families, staff and visitors healthy and safe.

At times, a health-care facility may need to implement visitor restrictions if they are experiencing an increase of flu-like or gastrointestinal illness amongst patients or residents. This means that individuals should refrain from visiting the facility when possible and immediate family should contact the facility before visiting.

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Help reduce the spread of illness

Visitors can help reduce the spread of illness by doing the following:

Do not visit if you are ill.
Check with nursing staff before you visit.
Clean your hands before entering and after visiting your loved ones.
Should you visit more than one resident at one visit, please ensure you take the necessary precautions.
Wear protective equipment, such as masks, gown and gloves for the duration of the visit, if required. Nursing staff will advise which equipment is required, how to properly apply and remove it.

Please do NOT visit any health care facility if you feel ill or are experiencing flu-like or gastrointestinal symptoms.

For the purpose of visitation to Eastern Health facilities, immediate family would include a mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, next of kin or “significant other” as indicated by the patient or resident. In the case where there is no family, a friend can be identified by the patient or resident to visit. Patients and residents may also identify a care provider as approved by the site management.

Prevent Infection!

For infection prevention, the public is advised to wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs or sneezes with a tissue or the crook of their arms and refrain from touching their faces.

Updated Nov 20, 2020

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