Coronavirus Update and Health System Preparations - 3/19

Screening Tent
The remote screening service will be closed on Friday, March 20, due to a forecast of thunderstorms in the morning and potential heavy wind and hail in the afternoon. In addition, as announced yesterday, we will not be conducting screenings on the weekends. The next time the service will be available will be Monday, March 23, starting at 8 a.m., as long as there is no rain or heavy winds.

Visitation Policy Revision
This afternoon an order was issued by the state health officer mandating the suspension of certain public gatherings. This order will run through at least April 5.

The mandate prohibits hospital visits except for “certain compassionate care situations”. Fayette Medical Center’s Nursing Home is still closed to all visitors. DCH is updating is temporary visitation policy as follows for all of its campuses:

• One visitor per outpatient cancer treatment patient or maternity patient.
• One visitor per patient for end of life events.
• Up to two visitors per patient for the NICU.
• Any visitor must be healthy and at least 16 years old.
• Per the order, no other visitors will be allowed.

Thank you for your patience as we have worked through this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis and how to manage it. Every day has brought new questions. With the help of a highly dedicated staff, excellent physicians and engaged partners such as the city, police, fire, EMS and many more, we have figured out solutions so we could keep screening and collecting specimens for testing.

Today we wanted to let you know about two changes we will implement immediately at DCH’s remote screening site adjacent to its Regional Medical Center. First, the provider’s personal protective equipment is not as effective when wet, so rain creates a potentially unsafe situation for the providers. On days where significant rain is in the forecast, or it starts to rain heavily when not expected, we will close the screening for the day and will work to get the word out. Second, everyone has been working very hard to meet the community need, but our resources are limited and our staff needs rest. To that end, we have decided to not hold screenings on Saturdays and Sundays. Please self-quarantine until the next non-rainy weekday if you feel you need to be evaluated for a test.

This has been an evolving process. These changes reflect an effort to pace our resource consumption at a rate we hope to manage for the duration of the need. Community feedback is critical to our success. If you have any questions or suggestions, please reply to this post or message us directly. Thank you for your understanding.