Visiting a Patient
Patient- and Family-Directed Visitation Guidelines*
Memorial Healthcare System embraces the philosophy of patient- and family-centered care. We believe in meeting our patients' medical, comfort, safety, and privacy needs, as well as the needs of their families.
Masks Are Now Optional
Patients and visitors may be requested to wear a mask if they have signs or symptoms of or a diagnosed infectious diseases that can be spread through coughing (droplet or airborne transmission), within a sterile area or during a sterile procedure, or visiting with a patient whose treating provider has diagnosed or confirmed a condition affecting immune system. Patients and visitors may opt out of these masking guidelines unless doing so would risk the safety or health of the patient, other patients, or staff of the facility, or cannot be reasonably accommodated by the facility or provider.
Care Partners
Patients and their families determine who will be the designated care partner. Care partners are an important member of the healthcare support team and play a key role in helping manage health problems and concerns. For example, Memorial Rehabilitation Institute FIT: Family in Training Program is specifically designed for care partners interested in learning how to assist their family member with activities by providing them with extensive training that can help reduce falls or other injuries after they leave the hospital. As such, care partners are welcome 24/7. If a patient would like the care partner or a family member to stay overnight, please contact the patient's nurse to discuss arrangements. Sleeping arrangements for those with 24-hour access varies from unit to unit.
Extended family members and visitors should check with the patient and/or care partner to make sure the time of their visit is convenient.
At times, the healthcare team might ask family members or visitors to step out of the room. This could occur for a number of reasons, including for the patient's privacy and safety. Space limitations or healthcare needs may require that the number of visitors be limited during the patient's stay.
Quiet Time at 9 pm
In order to create a healing environment for our patients, we ask that you help us maintain our Quiet Time at 9 pm policy, and encourage extended family members and friends to return at another time during the patient's stay. At 9 pm, main lights on the unit are lowered, and noise levels and voices should remain low overnight.
Privacy
In order to maintain our patients' privacy and support a restful environment, we ask that guests refrain from taking phone calls or holding conversations in the hallways. We ask that guests instead visit our Family Resource Centers and/or Family Lounges located on each unit.
Children and Siblings
Children must be supervised by an adult family member or visitor at all times. Childcare is not available on-site and will not be provided by staff.
Safety and Security
Each Memorial Healthcare System facility has dedicated security staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All adult visitors must have photo identification. Security will print a photo pass that is required to be worn at all times.
Security-sensitive areas, such as the Family Birthplace, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, and the Neonatal Intensive Care Units, use wristbands for identifying the parents, guardians, or other primary caregivers of pediatric patients. Similarly, information about a patient's condition is given only to parents and authorized persons.
The Security Office for Memorial Regional Hospital can be reached at 954-265-6565.
Hospital staff may ask a visitor to leave if the visitor is causing a disruption or discomfort to any patient.
Infection Prevention
To help prevent the spread of germs, guests should wash their hands before and after entering a patient's room. Guests also can help protect their loved ones by using the visitor restrooms on the unit, rather than the restroom in the patient's room.
Infection precaution signs on the door of patient rooms explain how to protect patients and guests from infection. If help is needed with personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, gowns and/or masks, please ask for assistance.
For the protection of all patients and staff, anyone entering the hospital should be free of signs/symptoms of illness. This includes, but is not limited to, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, or chills. Visitors who have been exposed to communicable diseases such as flu, chicken pox, measles, mumps, or any other contagious disease will be discouraged from visiting the hospital. Any visitors observed by staff with such signs or symptoms, or who are known to have been exposed to communicable diseases, may be asked to leave.
In order to balance the need for emotional support from friends and family with the infection prevention benefits of decreased patient exposure to germs, we will closely monitor guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during flu season (November through March). Additional prevention measures, including requesting that family members and visitors use masks and verifying flu vaccine documentation, may be put in place.
Please Note: Some units, including Neonatal Intensive Care, Adult Intensive Care, Oncology, Bone Marrow and Inpatient Behavioral Health, may have more specific safety precaution guidelines. Please check with the unit nurse or care partner to confirm.
Electronic Device Use
Please be courteous to those in and around a patient's room when using electronic devices such as cell phones, iPads, and handheld video games. We encourage the use of headphones when possible as a courtesy to others.
Video Recording and Pictures
Out of respect for patient privacy and safety, we ask all patients and visitors to be extremely cautious when using their mobile devices to document experiences in patient care areas on Memorial Healthcare System property. Always respect the privacy and rights of others. Realize that recording videos in patient care areas may be a violation of patient privacy and has the potential to disrupt healthcare providers. Staff may ask any person to stop recording/photographing, as well as to delete the recording(s) or photograph(s), if the staff member believes that such activity is putting patient privacy at risk. Additionally, the staff may require any person to immediately stop recording/photographing, or prohibit any person from doing so, if such activity is interfering with the delivery of care to a patient.
Gifts
Please check with the care partner or nurse before bringing gifts, including food, drinks, flowers, or other items because there may be specific limitations for the safety of the patient, especially those in the Intensive Care Unit. For example, due to the sensitive medical conditions of the children on some units, flowers may not be allowed everywhere. Please check with the patient's family before sending flowers.
Please do not bring latex balloons to any patient room for the safety of those with allergies: only Mylar balloons are permitted.
Smoking Policy
All Memorial Healthcare System facilities are smoke and tobacco free.
Weapons and Drug Policies
Providing a safe, healthy and secure environment for everyone, including patients, visitors, employees, and others who enter our facilities, is of utmost importance to Memorial Healthcare System. Memorial prohibits any person, including someone who has a concealed carry weapon permit, from carrying a handgun or other deadly weapon onto the property of any Memorial Healthcare System facility. Only law enforcement officers are exempt from this policy.
No illegal drugs are allowed in any Memorial Healthcare facility at any time.
Family Birthplace / Labor & Delivery Visiting Guidelines
Patients and their families determine who will be designated as the care partner. Care partners are individuals provided access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please speak with a member of the patient's healthcare team to discuss sleeping arrangements for the care partner.
Because patient-directed visitation provides options that work best for patients and their family members, extended family members and visitors should check with the patient and/or care partner before arriving at the hospital.
At times, the healthcare team might ask family members or visitors to step out of the room. This could occur for a number of reasons, including for the patient's privacy and safety. Space limitations or healthcare needs may require that the number of visitors be limited during the patient's stay.
Visitors and sibling visitation hours vary. Please contact the care partner or Memorial Family Birthplace for more information. Visitors must present a photo ID, and minor siblings must be accompanied by an adult.
We understand that the birth of a baby is an exciting time, and families may desire to capture this special occasion. We encourage taking still photos because video recording and live video calls can be distracting to the mom and the healthcare team. We will be happy to let you know when it is a good time to start recording. Our healthcare providers will decide if they wish to take part in the pictures or help take photos of you and your family. Special arrangements can be made with the expressed consent of all parties.
Children and Siblings
Children must be supervised by an adult family member or visitor at all times. For safety reasons, children should not stay overnight in a patient's room. Please let us know if there is a special situation we should be aware of, and we will try to help you. Childcare is not available on-site and will not be provided by staff.
Safety and Privacy
Due to space limitations, please designate who will be by your side while you are here. Visitors are welcome to alternate spending time with you. For the privacy and safety of patients, the healthcare team may ask visitors to step out of the room during sensitive conversations or procedures, or if any visitor is causing disruption or discomfort to any patient.
In order to maintain privacy and a restful environment for our patients and their care partners, we ask that you refrain from lingering in hallways during phone calls and conversations; instead please visit our Family Resource Centers and/or Family Lounges.
Mental and Behavioral Health Visiting Guidelines
Due to the unique community-based care setting found on our in-patient units, to keep our patients, staff, and visitors as safe as possible, we are asking all of our visitors to abide by the requirements listed below.
- All visitors coming to see patients at Inpatient Behavioral Health will be screened in the lobby area for COVID before being permitted to our in-patient areas. Visitors will not be permitted to visit if they have any of the following:
- Any symptoms consistent with COVID-19
- Actively isolating for a COVID-19 infection
- As a defined high-risk area, all visitors may be asked to wear a properly fitting mask. The mask must be kept on the entire time the visitor is in the building and must be worn properly, covering the mouth and nose.
- All visitors must comply with CDC best practices regarding hand hygiene (will be given a single application of hand sanitizer upon entering the in-patient unit), physical distancing, and minimization of exposure while in the community, including separation from any sick household family members who are in self-isolation.
- The length of the visitation time is subject to change, dependent on the need for social distancing and space availability.
- No food or liquid beverages may be brought into Behavioral Health at this time.
- All visitors and patients must remain in the assigned area/room during visitation.
- Security will limit the number of visitors in the lobby at any given time. Only one visitor per patient will be granted access to the Behavioral Health building. We are not able to accommodate additional family members in the lobby waiting area at this time.
- Visitors must exit the Behavioral Health building directly and expeditiously upon leaving the in-patient unit.