Hospital Coronavirus Update As of March 24, 2020
Posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2020
Hospital Further Restricts Visitors To Limit Spread of COVID-19
As with numerous hospitals elsewhere, Mercy Health/Love County Hospital and Clinic on Monday, March 23, further limited visitation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions apply to visitors coming to see inpatients in the hospital.
Currently, there is no change to the clinic visitation policy. The clinic is asking that patients be mindful and limit persons accompanying them to their visit.
The visitation policy changes are temporary. “We continue to work around the clock to keep our patients, co-workers, and visitors safe during this time,” said Richard Barker, hospital CEO. “The decision to further change our visitation policy was not made lightly, but we need to continue preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
Here are the revised visitation policies:
- Adult inpatients are not allowed visitors except under limited circumstances.
- One visitor (or two guardians) allowed for children under age 18.
- Approved visitors must be 16 years or older and fever-free/cough-free.
Health screening procedures continue in effect for all persons entering the facility. The single entrance for both the hospital and clinic is the front lobby of the hospital. The emergency department entrance is open for persons seeking emergency care.
Screening staff members take each person’s temperature and inquire about the presence of symptoms such as unexplained fever, cough, or shortness of breath. They continue to inquire about travel or exposure to someone with confirmed COVID-19 within the past 14 days.
If COVID-19 is suspected, the person will be isolated from the rest of the patients and treated in that isolation area. If the potential COVID-19 patients are more ill, they will be routed to a separate entrance for further assessment and to minimize exposure to the waiting room and other patients.
The COVID Response Team is working with established partners to obtain testing kits as needed. As of Tuesday, a few concerning specimens had been sent to a partnering lab with no results available at this time. The facility is following Oklahoma Health Department guidelines for testing and reporting of results. This information will be available on the Oklahoma Health Department website.
Except for the initial screening, all departments of the hospital and the clinic are operating normally.
On Monday, there were eight patients in-house. The hospital can accommodate up to 25 inpatients.
The food pantry on the hospital’s east side opened as usual on Tuesday, although new guidelines there required clients to practice social distancing by staying six feet apart while they waited in line to pick up food packages.
Legacy Park and the recreational trail remain open.
The Adult Day Center closed temporarily last week. Clinical co-workers transferred to the hospital to assist in screening and patient care.