OSF HealthCare St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group is pleased to announce a change to their visitor guidelines which allows for patients to identify one visitor to be engaged in their care while they are in OSF facilities. New visitor guidelines go into effect on Monday, June 8, 2020.
Since March, OSF St. Francis has been restricting visitors from the hospital and outpatient clinics, except for circumstances which met the criteria outlined in Executive Order 2020-72. Governor Whitmer has since issued an emergency order on June 3, 2020, which allows for less restrictive visitor guidelines in health care facilities.
OSF St. Francis Hospital recognizes that family members and close friends offer loving support, encouragement, guidance and compassion during times of illness and suffering. “While continuing to take increased precautions to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible, we want to give patients the support they need while in our care,” said Lacey Crabb, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at OSF St. Francis.
Any person entering an OSF facility will be required to wear a mask, except children under two years of age and those who are unable to tolerate masking due to medical conditions. Additionally, all persons are screened for symptoms of COVID-19 upon entrance to OSF facilities, including temperature checks.
Effective Monday, June 8, 2020 OSF St. Francis Hospital will adopt the following visitor guidelines:
- One visitor per patient, with certain exceptions noted below.
- Visitors must be at least 16 years old.
- Visitation will be permitted between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., with the exception of support persons necessary to the patient’s provision of care and for end of life or critical care circumstances.
- Visitors must remain in the patient’s room or other locations designated by the patient’s care team.
- Visitation to patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis will be limited to extenuating circumstances only.
- Visitation will not be permitted during aerosol-generating procedures or during collection of respiratory specimens, unless deemed necessary for the care and well-being of the patient.
- Exceptions to the one visitor per patient guideline include:
- Allowing two parents/relatives to be present with pediatric patients.
- Allowing a partner as well as a doula to remain present with a laboring mother, and accompany the mother to prenatal appointments, including OBGYN ultrasounds.
- Allowing an increased number of visitors permitted to visit someone who may be nearing end of life, including allowing more than one family member or loved one at a time to visit the patient together.
- Allowing patients with physical or mental disabilities of any kind, including patients who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or require mobility assistance to have one support person necessary for the provision of care and one visitor.
Visitation to patients at high risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19, including older adults and persons with underlying medical conditions is strongly discouraged.
“We understand these limitations may impose an inconvenience to some families, but it’s important we continue to keep our patients, Mission Partners and community safe,” explained Crabb. “We will continue to evaluate our visitor guidelines as we move forward, but we’re pleased with the direction of these changes, allowing us to provide both safety and support to our patients.”
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