Dear Community Members,
At Saint Alphonsus, our calling is you. And what that means during these times of uncertainty, is that we remain committed to providing you and your family safe locations for your care. I want you to know about the many measures we have taken to prevent exposure to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in our clinic locations and hospitals.
All our Emergency Departments remain fully operational to support emergent needs and are using curb-site assessment when appropriate to provide COVID-19 related screenings to minimize community exposure. We have also established dedicated, isolated locations for screening and testing patients that have COVID-19 related symptoms.
Additionally, we are rapidly increasing the use of telemedicine to allow you to connect with our providers safely from home. These measures are all intended to reduce community spread and provide possible COVID-19 positive patients with the care that meets their specific needs. While in recent weeks our focus has been centered on readiness to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have restructured our facilities, flows and care to isolate COVID-19 in order to increase capacity to serve non-COVID-19 patients who need us.
Saint Alphonsus Health System was one of the first to stand-up Incident Command to prepare for COVID-19 and make concerted plans to prepare our system for this disease. We have always been committed to the highest standards of safety, cleanliness, and disinfection for our patients, visitors, and colleagues. While the pandemic readiness continues, we have implemented the following noticeable measures to advance the safety of our patients:
- Screening and temperature checks of all who enter our facilities including our colleagues, physicians and patients
- Masking requirements of all who enter our facilities including our colleagues, physicians and patients
- Visitor restrictions to limit exposure
- Social distancing
- COVID-19 free zones (CFZ) and units with designated staff
- Routine use of the one of the most effective high-grade, hospital-approved disinfectants that is effective against COVID-19 and a range of other microbes including C. diff
- State of the art cleaning and disinfection program that includes a science-based quality check to assure all areas that are touched with high frequency are being cleaned and disinfected.
- Dedicated COVID-19 clinic sites that can assess and test patients with symptoms of COVID-19
During the past two months, some individuals with chronic illnesses and urgent situations have postponed health care services in order to reduce the spread of the disease. Consistent with guidelines from the CDC, we also postponed elective surgeries and studies, delaying procedures that we know were needed by our patients. We know that further postponement may threaten the health and well-being of the people and communities we serve. With that in mind, it is critical for patients with chronic and urgent health conditions to follow-up with their physicians now and know we are here and prepared to deliver the care you need safely.
While our numbers of COVID-19 patients have been extremely low so far, we have used our medical and engineering experts and exercised every precaution to ensure a safe environment. Also, we still maintain our readiness if there were a surge in the coming year as stay-at-home policies are relaxed. Strong personal protective equipment (PPE) policies and constant monitoring of our inventory of PPE ensure staff and patients can be confident in Saint Alphonsus until COVID-19 is no longer a serious health threat. To date, we have not had any colleagues that have contracted COVID-19 through exposure at work.
When it comes to questions related to COVID-19, we have established a Community COVID-19 hotline, staffed by clinicians, to help you and your loved ones get the information and answers you need. You can reach us at 208-302-2683 8 AM to 8 PM daily.
Please continue to monitor SaintAlphonsus.org/Coronavirus for up-to-date information about preventing the spread of COVID-19, what to do if you feel sick, and actions we are taking to help keep you safe and informed. You can also get information about setting up a telemedicine visit with one of our providers on our website.
Thank you for trusting Saint Alphonsus as your healthcare partner.
Odette Bolano, President & CEO
Saint Alphonsus Health System