UK HealthCare, other KY hospitals set strict visitor restrictions to reduce COVID-19
UK HealthCare and Baptist Health Lexington instituted strict visitor policy changes on Thursday, effective immediately, to protect against novel coronavirus transmission, including limiting a patient’s number of visitors to one adult at a time, with few exceptions.
CHI Saint Joseph Hospital instituted the same one-visitor-per-patient restrictions yesterday at all of its 12 locations statewide.
The new UK policy applies across patient departments at all UK hospitals and clinics, including UK Chandler, Good Samaritan, UK Children’s Hospital, Kentucky Clinics and UK HealthCare Turfland. At Baptist Health Lexington, that restriction applies to all patients in non-maternity areas, spokespeople for both facilities said.
Both facilities have also barred any kids and teenagers from visiting until further notice, with the only exception at UK being a child visiting a loved on in end-of-life care or in certain extreme situations when the visit has been pre-approved.
These new visitation parameters are in line with executive orders and recommendations given in recent weeks by Gov. Andy Beshear, who has temporarily implemented a series of severe prohibitions on social gathering of any kind across Kentucky, be it at work, a restaurant, in school, at church or as a visitor to a health care facility.
Each of these measures is to minimize community spread of the viral respiratory illness COVID-19, which has so far infected a confirmed 37 people across the Bluegrass State, and contributed to the death of a 66-year-old Bourbon County man earlier this week.
In the maternity ward at the Women’s Hospital at Saint Joseph East, only parents and grandparents without a fever or runny nose can visit. Only parents will be allowed in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Only parents are allowed in the NICU at Baptist, and maternity patients are only allowed to choose two people to visit during their stay and to not clog waiting rooms and lobbies with other visitors.
Saint Joseph is implementing even more stringent standards for visitors to its long-term care facility, Continuing Care Hospital. Only one visitor is allowed during the duration of a patient’s stay, they must must wear a gown, gloves and masks during their visit, which is restricted to a two-hour window each day from 6-8 p.m.
Maternity unit visitors and patients at Saint Joseph will also need to wear personal protective equipment in designated areas.
At Baptist and Saint Joseph, hospital access will be restricted to designated entrances, and at those points, some visitors are required to let staff check their temperature, inquire about travel history and whether they’ve been in contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. Saint Joseph patients at the hospital for surgery or outpatient testing will also be screened, and maternity unit visitors
A similar screening could happen at UK Health, where visitors must remain in a patient’s room “at all times,” except for quick trips to the bathroom or to buy food. Each time a visitor enters or exits a patient’s room, they must wash their hands.
UK also asks that visitors limit the number of personal items brought into the hospital and to not congregate in public waiting or eating areas but to leave immediately once they’re done visiting.
Any visitor with cold or flu-like symptoms is completely barred from each hospital’s campus.
The visitor restrictions at UK will remain in place until “transmission of COVID-19 is no longer a threat,” according to a news release.
“We appreciate your understanding during this time that the safety and well-being of our patients, employees and our community is our greatest concern and priority in making these decisions,” said Dr. Mark Newman, University of Kentucky executive vice president for health affairs.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 2:28 PM.
