Intermountain Healthcare Announces New Visitation Restrictions Amid Coronavirus Concerns
Mar 9, 2020, 5:45 PM | Updated: 11:29 pm
MURRAY, Utah – Intermountain Healthcare has implemented new restrictions at all of its facilities in Utah and Idaho after Utah’s first COVID-19 case was confirmed last week.
Officials said their hospitals, InstaCare facilities and other clinics are safe and they hope the restrictions on visitors will keep them safe and help prevent people from spreading the new coronavirus.
“We’re looking first and foremost to protect our communities and our patients,” said Suzanne Anderson, nurse administrator at Intermountain Healthcare. “To protect the patients that are already here and our community members that may be visiting.”
Anyone who is sick should not go to the hospital to visit a patient, nor should they accompany a patient who’s going in. People should not enter the facilities except to seek care for themselves.
Officials with the Utah Department of Health advised anyone who thinks they have the virus to call their doctor or call ahead to the hospital, rather than showing up in a waiting room and spreading germs.
“It is a rapidly evolving, changing dynamic that’s occurring as we learn more about this virus,” Anderson said.
Intermountain Healthcare officials are discouraging any visitors under age 18, and only two visitors or companions of a patient may visit at a time. No visitors are allowed to see patients who have a confirmed case or possibly have COVID-19. They’re also asking visitors to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before and after leaving a patient room.
They don’t want anyone to panic about getting health care at any of their facilities and said that’s why they’re taking these precautions, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the Utah Department of Health and the Utah Hospital Association.
“It’s still safe. Our hospitals are safe,” Anderson said. “We are well prepared. We have great care clinics. We want people to come to seek care that need it.”
Officials are telling caregivers in their facilities to stay home if they’re sick. If they’ve traveled to countries with coronavirus concerns, they are also supposed to check in with employee health nurses.
“That are screening those individuals for symptoms, also implementing our monitoring. Mostly that involves taking your temperature and recording any kind of symptoms that would go to the state health department,” Anderson said.
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