It’s been a week since the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance began offering outdoor visits for some long-stay patients.
CEO Lori Marshall says they’re already looking to expand.
“We focused initially on those individuals in our complex continuing care and our rehab unit, and now we’re looking at doing it a little bit more broadly across the hospital, but still on a booked basis,” Marshall says.
The Health Alliance is also now offering outdoor visits for acute care patients in Wallaceburg with the newly named Riverside Pavilion on the hospital’s front lawn.
“There’s the nice gazebo out there, and that’s where we’re doing the outdoor visiting at the Wallaceburg site. So (outdoor visits are) available really to everyone across both of our sites.”
Marshall says family is good medicine, and is something the health care team can’t replace. She spoke to one long-term patient in Chatham who hadn’t seen his daughter in more than six months and his son in closer to nine months, but was finally been able to visit with them face-to-face.
All visits have to be scheduled in advance through the Patient and Family Communication Liaisons – 519 352 6400 x6917 or email pfcl@ckha.on.ca.