Patient and Visitor Screening Policy

Effective July 8, 2020

At Hoag, we take our role as your health care provider to heart, and appreciate you trusting us with your health care needs.

Updated Visitor Policy

Our patient care philosophy is deeply rooted in our belief that engaging patients and their families is an important part of the healing process. With that in mind, and in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are instituting new visitor policies until further notice, in the interest of the continued health and safety of our patients, visitors and staff.

We are currently enforcing a “Limited Visitor” policy at our hospitals, consistent with the directive from Governor Newsom. There are only a few exceptions:

Patients who may be facing end of life – We will work with families to ensure that they are able to be with their family member.
Maternity Patients – For new mothers laboring and delivering, they will be allowed one significant other to be with them throughout their stay (must be the same person for the duration of the patient’s stay). Support person is allowed to stay overnight.
Neonatal Intensive Care Patients – Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit will be allowed two designated support persons to visit at the same time (must be the same two support persons for the duration of the patient’s stay).
Acute Rehabilitation Patients – Patients admitted to the Fudge Family Acute Rehabilitation Center may have one support person for scheduled family training throughout their stay. Additional family support, outside of family training, may be needed and will be determined on a case by case basis.
Patients with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities – Patients with physical, intellectual, and/or developmental disabilities and those with cognitive impairments may have one support person present (must be the same person for the duration of the patient’s stay).
Visitors are not permitted to spend the night except in certain cases, including those noted above, where it may be necessary for the patient or with end of life circumstances.
Pet visits are restricted unless it is a service animal or visiting an End of Life patient.

Our care teams will help determine the need for a patient to have a support person based on the above outlined criteria.

Any visitor who meets one of these criteria will be screened at the hospital entrance. Visitors who are ill with the following symptoms will not be permitted to visit patients. Exceptions will be made only for extreme circumstances (i.e. End of Life, Laboring Spouse).

Signs and Symptoms

Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Sore throat
Body Ache
Chills
New loss of taste or smell
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Congestion
Runny Nose

Anyone entering a health care facility (e.g., health care personnel, patients, visitors) is required to wear a face mask or cloth covering. Examples of a cloth covering include scarf, bandana, homemade mask, etc. Cloth coverings must cover mouth and nose. Approved visitors will be provided with an armband.

We highly encourage alternative means of communication to provide healing support, such as phone calls, FaceTime, Google Hangouts and Skype.

As additional precautions, flower and food deliveries have been suspended in an effort to limit the number of vendors in the hospital.

The decision to restrict visitors was difficult and made only after careful consideration to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Thank you for your understanding and support as we remain committed to our mission to provide the highest quality health care to the communities we serve.

Patient Screening

All patients will be screened at the hospital entrance and at our outpatient facilities.

Patients who are ill with symptoms such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, body aches, chills or new loss of taste or smell, will be asked to wait outside while the receiving department is contacted and alerted to the fact that the patient has arrived and has a fever and/or symptoms.

The department will determine the necessity for the patient to enter the facility or whether the appointment can be rescheduled for another time. If it is determined that the patient needs to enter the facility, the department will send someone to escort the individual to the department.