More visitors will soon be allowed back at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH).
Because of COVID-19, visitation to the campus on Prince Road was put on hold but with the number of new cases remaining low, the organization has developed a new visitation plan.
Director of Restorative Care, Sarah Picco says they were already allowing designated caregivers but as of Monday they will be able to visit during some newly expanded hours.
“They'll now be able to visit between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.,” says Picco. “And what we're also doing now is opening up where patients have the ability to pick one visitor for two hour time blocks that can come in as well on top of the designated care provider."
According to Picco, 155 designated care providers have already been trained and have been visiting.
"What a designated care provider is, is they come in and they get two hours worth of training talking a little bit about our policies and procedures here at HDGH and a little bit about COVID and what our expectations are when they visit."
Picco says it was challenging to have to cut off visitations in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, so they are glad to be slowly making changes.
"As an organization we did our very best to keep our families connected through phone calls and iPads and things such as that,” she says. “We even had courtyard visits that were fenced off so we've been doing our very best to keep everybody in touch while also trying to maintain safety."
As Picco mentioned, in addition to the designated caregiver program, each patient at HDGH will now have the option of selecting one individual who will be their registered visitor who will be welcome to visit their loved one 7 days a week during one of two time blocks, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m..
— With files from AM800's Patty Handysides