Following the lead of restaurant patios, the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance is now offering outdoor visits for its long-stay patients.
“Some of our long-stay patients in our rehab unit or complex continuing care, they’re there not just for days and weeks but months and sometimes years, and we know they really have been missing their families,” CEO Lori Marshall says. “This is a way that we can create a safe, outdoor space.”
Long-stay patients will be able to get together with their dedicated care partner and up to two other people to sit and chat in the courtyard.
Tables on the patio have to be booked in advance. Visitors will need to adhere to all COVID protocols and infection prevention measures such as masks and physical distancing, and no food or drinks will be allowed.
“We want to make sure that we have enough tables, we have some shade that we’ve put in place, we just have to make sure for traffic in and out of the hospital that we’re still able to do the screening and those kinds of things.”
Outdoor visiting hours run from 10am to 6pm with 45-minute sessions. Visits in the courtyard can be booked through the hospital’s Patient and Family Communication Liaisons – 519 352 6400 x6917 or email pfcl@ckha.on.ca.
