DANVILLE, Pa. — As the coronavirus outbreak continues to evolve, Geisinger announced Wednesday it is making several procedural changes to ensure the safety of patients, visitors, and employees and to prevent potential exposure to COVID-19.
Beginning March 18, Geisinger Holy Spirit will limit inpatient visitation to one consistent, healthy visitor per patient. All visitors must be at least 18 years of age without fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, or recent travel history.
Visiting hours at Geisinger Holy Spirit are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Other Geisinger hospitals are limiting inpatient visitation to one visitor per patient. Visitors must be age 18 or older, an immediate family member or caregiver and not displaying symptoms of respiratory disease; have not traveled out of the country in the past two weeks; or have not had, in the past two weeks, significant contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Visitors are encouraged to call the hospital operator for visitation hours, which may vary by location.
Other changes announced Wednesday be Geisinger include:
Elective, non-urgent procedures on hold
Beginning March 19 and for the next two weeks:
- Elective, non-urgent procedures are on hold.
- Non-urgent appointments may be rescheduled, or patients will be offered other care options, such as telephone or telemedicine visits.
- Patients with urgent appointments will be cared for, and we will use the screening process already in place for identifying potential infection or exposure.
- Scheduled imaging will continue as planned; however, patients will be screened at the time of their scheduling and/or at their appointment.
- We will continue to monitor the situation to determine whether we need to extend this process beyond two weeks.
RELATED: Department of Health Provides Update on COVID-19: 37 New Positives, Bringing Statewide Total to 133
Geisinger sets up screening tents
Geisinger has set up screening tents on hospital campuses to screen for COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses. These are not a response to an existing increase in demand, but rather, they are being established so we can be prepared to care for our communities in the event of increased COVID-19 activity. Geisinger Holy Spirit will be using an outside, tented area adjacent to Spirit Urgent Care in Camp Hill to screen patients with these symptoms.
If patients or visitors to our emergency departments are showing symptoms of respiratory illness, we will immediately take precautionary infection control measures such as proper gowning, masking and more while moving the patient to the appropriate area for care. Patients should only come to the emergency department if they are experiencing severe symptoms in need of emergency care.
Please call first
Geisinger experts continue to ask that before visiting a doctor’s office, convenient care clinic or emergency department, people call their primary care doctor’s office or Geisinger’s 24/7 novel coronavirus hotline at 570-284-3657 if they may have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 or if they have:
- Cough
- Fever
- Shortness of breath
For general questions and information about COVID-19, visit geisinger.org/coronavirus. Using these resources before going to a doctor’s office, walk-in clinic or emergency department can help lessen the possible spread of the virus.
Source: Geisinger
