The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is tightening restrictions when it comes to visitors at the hospital.
Effective immediately, the hospital is moving back to phase 2 of its restrictions, allowing just one care partner for patients in the rehabilitation and inpatient stroke, inpatient psychiatry, and complex continuing care units. Patients in the ICU will be permitted two consistent care partners.
Some exceptions will be allowed, including patients at the end of life, pediatric patients, and women in active labour or post-partum.
As of Thursday, December 9th, all visitors and care partners will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test at both the Chatham and Wallaceburg sites.
“With our mandatory vaccination policy now in place for all staff, physicians and volunteers, we’ve applied similar principles to our visitor policy as our next step to ensuring our hospital sites are safer places to receive and deliver care,” said Lori Marshall, President and CEO, CKHA. “It was particularly important that we make this adjustment to the policy as cases are rising in the community and in hospital, particularly in critical care. With the recent reports of the Omicron variant of concern in Canada, it was also imperative we take this extra measure to protect our most vulnerable populations.”
Exceptions to the policy include:
- Palliative patients or patients at end-of-life (EOL);
- Critically ill patients or life altering diagnosis, or imminent risk of dying;
- Child birth (triage, labour and delivery, post-partum);
- Major surgery (procedure that may not have a positive outcome);
- Paediatric patients;
- Patients with disabilities that are determined by clinical teams to require the personal support of a family member/caregiver;
- Post mortem.