Visitor restriction update: March 15, 2020

Effective immediately, all visitors are restricted from Salem Hospital, West Valley Hospital and Salem Health Medical Clinics until further notice. Please telephone or video chat with your loved one. Exceptions may be made for patients in the circumstances listed below.

To protect patients and caregivers and to preserve critical safety supplies, Salem Health is restricting all visitors at its hospitals in Salem and in Dallas.

As an alternative to visiting a family member or friend at either Salem Hospital or West Valley Hospital, please telephone or video call them.

Unless an exception below is satisfied, visitation will not be permitted starting Monday, and will continue for the foreseeable future. For safety considerations, no visitors below age 12 will be allowed on premises. Further, no visitors will be allowed to visit patients who are in isolation for infection prevention.

Exceptions

Assuming the visitor is healthy, the following exceptions will be made:

• Obstetric, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric patients may have one designated visitor accompany them.
• Patients who are at the end of life may have one visitor at a time.
• Patients undergoing surgery or procedures may have one visitor who must leave the hospital as soon as the patient’s recovery is complete.
• Patients who have an appointment at a Salem Health Medical Group clinic, laboratory, radiology, or who are seeking care in the emergency department may have one person with them only if required for physical or mental assistance.
• Case-by-case exceptions will be considered by the unit’s nurse leader based upon unusual circumstances. Please call 503-561-5200 and ask to be connected with the charge nurse on your loved one’s floor.
  

Guests who meet one of these exceptions will be allowed inside the hospital, but are restricted to the patient’s room and direct travel to and from the patient’s room and hospital entrances/exits, unless clinically required diversions are necessary, such as to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.

If you have flu-like symptoms

For the foreseeable future, we are asking that only patients enter our clinics, unless the patient is under the age of 12 or needs a companion to provide physical or mental assistance. Thank you for helping us limit exposure.

All patients with flu-like symptoms are being rescheduled to alternate locations. If you have a fever or cough, please call for 503-561-5200 and ask to schedule an appointment. Thank you for helping us limit exposure.

We will review and revisit this decision as the situation with COVID-19 continues to evolve.