Munster Community Hospital Confirms First Positive COVID-19 Patient
Community Hospital in Munster has a confirmed case of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). The patient was screened and assessed upon entry and was found to have a slight fever and respiratory symptoms. They were immediately placed in isolation and appropriate protocols have been implemented as the Indiana State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) investigate.
Hospital staff are well prepared for this situation and continue to operate under rigorous infection control procedures. Infection Control teams at Community Healthcare System hospitals are using a combination of best practices and advanced tracking technologies to help ensure that any virus does not spread to other patients, healthcare employees or the community. This includes having protective barriers and isolation areas to protect staff and others from airborne exposure to COVID-19. Further, our clinicians train year-round to respond to any potential outbreaks of infectious diseases.
We are treating this development as an emergent situation and have assembled an internal team of leaders, physicians, infection prevention specialists and many more who are working with all sites of care to create protocols and new workflows for COVID-19. Many of the practices related to COVID-19 are the same as for influenza, and we will be using our best infection prevention practices to protect patients, visitors and our caregivers.
With this update in status, our visitation restrictions have changed accordingly. Visitation will be restricted at our hospitals as follows:
· No visitation is allowed at our hospitals. Case by case exceptions may be made for critically ill, Emergency Department, mother/baby, pediatrics and surgical procedure patients
·All adult visitor/support persons will be screened for respiratory symptoms and recent travel
·Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to visit
Medical/surgical procedures that can be safely delayed and will not compromise the health of the patient have been postponed.
Patient safety is always paramount in the protection of our patients, visitors and staff. You can protect yourself from transmission of the virus by washing your hands often, avoiding close contact with others, staying home if sick, covering coughs and sneezes and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily.
For those seeking additional information, please do not call the Emergency Department since it takes resources away from treating our patients.
Those with general questions about coronavirus can also find resources online, which are updated regularly, including:
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at cdc.gov/ncov
•. The Indiana State Department of Health atwww.in.gov/isdh or 317-233-7125
• Community Healthcare System website at COMHS.org/coronavirus
My wife was there Saturday to visit her sister who is very sick and my mother-in-law was there yesterday should we have concerns and stay home for 2 weeks.