Baptist Health Corbin suspending visitations

Baptist Health has suspended visitation at its nine hospitals and all satellite offices, including Corbin, in an effort to safeguard patients and staff against the COVID–19 virus.

The new rules went into effect Tuesday, allowing only essential caregivers to accompany patents for medical appointments for tests.

At the hospitals, there will be limited exceptions, allowing one healthy visitor or companion for:

• Patients under age 18 (must be a parent or guardian)
• Women in labor (birthing partner)
• End-of-life patients (clergy)
• Hospice or end-of-life patients (visitor)
• Dependent patients who require assistance (caregiver)

“This is a difficult but necessary step to help deal with this ever-changing situation,” said Baptist Health CEO Gerard Colman. “We apologize for the inconvenience to our patients and their loved ones, but we must keep patient and staff safety our top priority. With Baptist Health’s long-standing reputation of providing ‘treat-you-like-family’ care, you know your family members and friends are in good hands.”

There will be limited exceptions in certain situations:

• Patients under age 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian
• Women in labor may be accompanied by a birthing partner
• Patients in an end-of-life situation may receive a visit from their clergy
• Hospice or patients in an end–of–life situation may have a single visitor at a time.
• Dependent patients, or patients who require assistance, may have a caregiver.

“Only one visitor or company for a patient may be in the hospital at one time,” officials emphasized.

Those allowed to visit or accompany a patient will be screened prior to visitation. Upon entering the hospital, an employee will scan to determine whether the visitor is running a fever.

“We encourage everyone to use their personal electronic devices to use virtual means such as FaceTime or Skype to communicate with their loved ones in the hospital,” said Anthony Powers, president of Baptist Health Corbin.  If you would like to FaceTime with your family member, please contact the Patient Advocate at 606.524.3012 to make arrangements.

Emergency patients are asked to enter through the Emergency Department to be screened. All others should enter through the main entrance, which will be open 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Baptist Health has postponed elective surgeries and certain diagnostic screening tests until further notice.

For the latest information on Baptist Health Corbin policies and response to COVID-19, visit BaptistHealth.com or follow Baptist Health Corbin on social media.