While non-essential services have halted after recent stay-at-home orders, local home care and hospice services remain available. CHP Home Care & Hospice and Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center are open and providing patients and families the care they need.
“We are absolutely open for business, providing nursing visits and accepting new patients,” said Ronda Lewis, RN, the supervisor at Defiance Area Inpatient Hospice Center. “We want to ensure the public that we are here to provide end-of-life care and home care for the most vulnerable.”
Under recent orders put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, home health and hospice care are considered essential services. Adult day centers have been closed throughout Ohio.
Preventative measures are in place to help keep both providers and patients safe.
CHP nurses and aides are following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines closely, along with those of the Ohio Department of Health. It is also screening the caregivers, patients, and visitors who come into the patient’s home or room for their level of risk for the coronavirus.
“When we identify someone who is at an increased risk for exposure or symptoms that are suggestive of COVID-19, then we have internal protocols that we use to protect our workforce, patients, and their family members,” Lewis says.
This includes using personal protective equipment, like eyewear, different types of face masks, gowns, and gloves.
Protocols for visitors at the Defiance Inpatient Hospice Center:
- All visitors are screened for fever and temperature at the main entrance. Those with temperatures over 99.6 will not be allowed entrance (exception, when a patient is actively dying)
- Visitors with temperatures greater than 99.6 will be masked and restricted to the patient’s room. Those with temperature over 100.4 are not allowed in the building.
- Limit two patients at a time per patient, restricted to the patient’s room. Only one visitor may spend the night (except when a patient is actively dying).
- No visitors under age 18 unless the patient is a parent or sibling and accompanied by an adult.
“If you have any questions about home health or hospice care during this extraordinary health care event, please call us,” Lewis said.