MANSFIELD — As OhioHealth resumes inpatient and outpatient services, the healthcare system has been taking precautions in order to help keep its patients and staff safe from COVID-19.
Ignoring symptoms or postponing care for medical conditions or services, such as mammograms and other screening tests and procedures, could be harmful in the long run.
Daniel Burwell, DO, with OhioHealth Physician Group Primary Care in Mansfield, notes that physicians and nurse practitioners are ramping up to see more patients each week. Your physician will decide whether a telehealth appointment (by phone or video) or in person is the best to approach your care, based on your unique needs and medical necessity. More than 1,000 OhioHealth primary care and specialty physicians in nearly every medical specialty are caring for patients virtually with telehealth appointments – including physicians in Richland, Crawford and Ashland counties. This link explains what to expect during a telehealth appointment.
“These precautions are for the benefit of our patients, associates and providers,” says Daniel Burwell, DO, with OhioHealth Physician Group Primary Care in Mansfield. “Our services and facilities continue to follow best practices, such as masks for patients and staff, social distancing, and hand-washing in and out of every patient room.”
The health and safety of all patients, visitors and associates is OhioHealth’s top priority. In order to calm any concerns you may have about a visit to a facility, below is OhioHealth’s plan for protecting the communities it serves.
Keeping you safe
Care sites are taking the following precautions:
- Daily health screening of staff, including temperature monitoring.
- Using hospital-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) that is appropriate for each staff member’s role.
- Requiring all associates and providers to wear masks.
- Providing masks for patients and approved visitors.
- Rigorously enforcing hand-washing protocols.
- Reviewing all clinical and operational processes with a team of certified infection prevention specialists.
- Cleaning our facilities and medical devices with hospital-grade products approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to kill the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
- Developing innovative ways to limit in-person contact, such as moving monitoring equipment out of patients’ rooms to preserve PPE, and using phone and video interactions, when appropriate.
At this time, patients and visitors may wear their personal mask to our facilities. OhioHealth will provide one hospital-grade mask to all patients and visitors. When worn properly, the masks will help protect you from COVID-19. If you’re a patient, even if you’re in a physician’s practice/exam room, you will be asked to wear a mask at all times. An update to OhioHealth’s visitor policy will be released on June 15.
Social distancing
For your safety, in any temperature check lines, waiting rooms, parking lots and other common areas, we will mark where you should stand or park to keep your distance from others. You’ll see decals and other reminders on floors, chairs, tables and displays throughout our facilities.
As much as possible, your provider and other OhioHealth associates will keep six feet between you. For some procedures, this isn’t possible. In those cases, we may use plastic or plexiglass barriers to separate you from your care team.
In situations that don’t allow for social distancing, your care team will work as quickly as possible to limit close contact. Rest assured, we’re constantly monitoring the well-being of our associates and will not be asking them to come in to work if they meet any of the criteria for COVID-19 symptoms.
How we are resuming surgeries
OhioHealth resumed all surgical procedures without restrictions. You will receive information directly from your physician’s office about your upcoming procedures, and where to go if you need testing. If you are scheduled for a surgery or procedure with anesthesia or sedation at an OhioHealth facility, you must be tested for COVID-19 within 72 hours of your procedure. Pre-operative test and precautions are to keep you and your caregivers safe.
As more information becomes available regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, OhioHealth will continue to follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure we are doing everything possible to stop transmission of COVID-19 and keep our patients and associates safe. For more information on how we’re keeping you safe, visit https://www.ohiohealth.com/safe.
