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 Those hospitals – Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Abraham
Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Decatur Memorial Hospital,
Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville and Taylorville Memorial
Hospital – will allow one visitor at a time for adult inpatients
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The hospitals will allow one support person and one additional
visitor for inpatient obstetrics patients. Those two people must be
the same for the duration of the stay.
No visitors will be allowed for patients being treated for COVID-19,
or patients being evaluated for the virus until a COVID-19 infection
is ruled out.
All visitors must wear a face covering that covers their nose and
mouth at all times while in the hospitals.
A total of 68 COVID-19 patients were in Memorial Health System’s
hospitals as of Jan. 15. That represents a decrease from a high of
173 patients back on Nov. 30, 2020.
Other visitor guidelines remain in place. They are:
Emergency Department: One visitor who must remain in the patient’s
room for the duration of the visit.
Inpatient at end-of-life: Two visitors.
Pediatrics, inpatient and outpatient: Two parents or guardians.
Surgery or procedure, inpatient and outpatient: One visitor in the
waiting room only for the duration of the surgery or procedure.
Passavant Area Hospital’s transitional care unit: Visitation is
restricted to essential individuals according to Illinois Department
of Public Health regulations.
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Outpatient services: Patients receiving outpatient services are encouraged to
come alone when possible or have visitors wait outside until their services are
complete.
For ambulatory medical services (Memorial Physician Services, Memorial
ExpressCare and DMH Medical Group), Members of the same household may accompany
a patient with an appointment. One non-household support person may accompany a
patient with an appointment.
Patients with intellectual or developmental disabilities or cognitive
impairments: One support person.
“We understand that these visitor restriction have been challenging for patients
and their families, but our first priority has been to keep our patients and our
frontline healthcare workers safe from this virus,” Dr. Raj Govindaiah, senior
vice president and chief medical officer for Memorial Health System, said.
“As our numbers for positive test results for COVID-19 go down and as we are
seeing fewer patients in our hospitals, we are able to ease our visitor
restrictions,” he said. “However, it’s vital that we all remain vigilant by
wearing our masks, watching our distance, washing our hands and avoiding large
gatherings.”
Memorial Health System’s hospitals also provide patients with devices for video
calls when in-person visitation is not possible.
[Michael Leathers]
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