While Valley has always adhered to strict standards in patient care and safety, in our new environment we have risen to new levels. Our commitment to keeping you, your loved ones and our staff safe and healthy has never been stronger as we have redefined our cleaning and safety standards above and beyond to maintain your trust. This top ten list is by no means everything being done to protect you, our community and staff, but they are likely the things that matter most to you and we want you to know what we’re doing for your protection as you continue to entrust us with your care.
1. Keeping 6 feet away from others.
- Plexiglass shields at registration or check in stations
- Waiting area furniture arranged to encourage physical distancing
- Workflow changes to prevent unnecessary physical contact such as direct escort to a treatment room after check-in or texting patients from their car when their treatment room is ready.
- Limited visitors
- In-home, telehealth appointment options available for primary and specialty clinic services
2. We mask for you, you mask for us. All staff, patients and visitors must be masked and screened for symptoms when entering VMC facilities and may not be removed except in special circumstances.
3. Patients with symptoms or who have tested positive for COVID-19 are physically separated from others in designated treatment areas and special units requiring protective measures.
4. Each hospital patient without screening or testing results are considered a Person Under Investigation until the patient can be properly screened or tested to rule out COVID-19.
5. All hospital and surgery patients are tested for COVID-19 regardless of symptoms to prevent unexpected exposure of staff and other patients.
6. All staff are provided safe and effective personal protective equipment and other needed supplies, with all guidelines and procedures updated based on state and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) policies.
What We’ve Always Done and Continue to Do: Strict Cleaning and Hygiene Standards
7. Hand hygiene stations (handwashing sinks or hand sanitizer) are located at the door of each patient room in all patient care locations and throughout facilities.
8. Viral disinfectant wipes are placed in all patient care locations to sanitize surfaces and equipment.
9. Patient rooms and treatment areas are sanitized after each patient leaves the room.
10. Public areas are wiped down and disinfected frequently throughout the day.
Health care providers should be tested periodically just like those who are tested before procedures. Why isn’t this being done? They may have after work contacts like anyone else who may have been exposed..
Valley Medical Center is following recommendations from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on COVID-19 testing. We are testing all patients before certain procedures and at admission because our interactions with these patients will be time-limited, in that patients are not repeatedly at risk for exposure in the community while they are in the hospital. Testing ensures that all proper protocols to care for a COVID-positive patient are followed.
However, there are currently no guidelines regarding testing asymptomatic medical staff. Valley Medical Center employees are monitored daily for symptoms, are asked to stay home if they are symptomatic, and are tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop. Since employees are potentially out in the community and at risk for exposure as you mentioned, the need to re-test very frequently would require testing resources that are not available at that scale. To address this, we have implemented a continuous masking policy for all staff, patients, and visitors at our hospital campus, clinics, and ancillary services offices, as well as rigorous symptom monitoring for all staff and highly elevated sterilization measures. Valley will continue to follow recommendations from DOH and CDC as knowledge about COVID-19 evolves, and rest assured that we are doing everything possible with the resources that we have to ensure the safety of all staff and patients.