Modesto-area hospitals have plans to contend with potentially growing coronavirus cases
Hospitals and health care providers said they are prepared to deal with the spread of coronavirus after two cases were confirmed Wednesday in Stanislaus County.
Modesto hospitals said procedures are in place to screen patients and protect other patients and staff from infection.
Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities told The Modesto Bee they were imposing restrictions on visitors and making changes to safeguard residents.
Memorial Medical Center is prepared to care for patients with complex illnesses, including infectious diseases, said a spokesman with Sutter Health, which is affiliated with Memorial.
“Staff have been trained to address infectious respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus,” the spokesman said, adding the hospital is working closely with county, state and federal agencies to address COVID-19 issues.
Krista Deans, a spokeswoman for Doctors Medical Center, said as people enter the hospital in the emergency department or registration, staff members ask them about any recent travel and symptoms.
In the emergency department, patients’ symptoms are evaluated and staff are prepared to implement gowns, gloves and masks, if required, without delay, Deans said.
Doctors has changed the way the hospital is accessed as an additional precaution for patients, visitors and employees. “We have created hand sanitation stations and are limiting access points to the hospital to fewer entrances and exits for closer monitoring and evaluation,” Deans said.
“We haven’t really noticed an influx of patients coming through the (emergency department) this week,” she said.
Sutter affiliates like the Sutter Gould physicians group in Stanislaus County are providing information to patients on COVID-19 and advising people to stay home from work or school if they are sick to prevent infecting others.
Any patients who suspect they may have coronavirus illness are advised to contact their doctor or local health department for advice before making an appointment. Sutter’s online information says those patients should not show up at the medical office without first contacting their physician or caregiver.
Sutter was informing patients of convenient options such as video visits, walk-in care and urgent care. Patients who meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines or have symptoms consistent with coronavirus are eligible for testing. Sutter said its facilities are not testing in-house but are working with commercial and public laboratories for testing.
Kaiser Permanente was giving similar advice to its members who may have the illness — to first call a number on their membership card before making a primary care appointment.
“For patients with symptoms who meet the criteria, we will make appropriate arrangements for testing,” said a Kaiser update on Tuesday.
Kaiser said its members won’t have to pay for COVID-19 screening or testing costs. Symptoms of coronavirus infection include a fever, cough and shortness of breath.
Casa De Modesto Retirement Center has been using “universal precautions all along” during cold and flu season, such as hand washing and protective gloves; in addition, staff has made changes regarding seniors going out in the community.
Activities that would put residents in large crowds, such as casino trips and dinners out, have been discontinued during the outbreak, Executive Director Curt Williams said.
Casa De Modesto, providing independent and assisted living, also is imposing restrictions on visitors, requiring them to fill out questionnaires and submit to a temporal thermometer scan to ensure they’re not feverish. So far, no one has had to be turned away, Williams said.
Residents also are instructed to refrain from hugs and handshakes with visitors, and to follow “common-sense, logical” practices.
The facility has dedicated employees who want to work, and state and federal regulations allow them to do so as long as they have nothing more than perhaps a cough or a sore throat, Williams said.
Under state and federal regulations, employees are expected to wear a mask if they have a cough or sore throat. But Casa De Modesto has sent a couple of staffers home who had high temperatures.
“We’re still trying to be mindful of residents’ rights but don’t want to expose our facility any more than it is,” Williams said. “There’s no way to completely contain this short of total isolation. It only takes one person in the spider web, you might say, the connected network outside, who’s been exposed and comes in here.”
Samaritan Village in Hughson was also taking the standard precautions of not admitting visitors who have fevers and using masks, gloves and gowns when appropriate, administrator Rikki Perezchica said. “We’re in close contact with all the appropriate agencies.”
Randy Eilts, a spokesman for Illinois-based Covenant Living Communities & Services, said none of its communities, including Turlock, has yet had COVID-19 case.
On the Covenant Living website (www.covliving.org/coronavirus) is a newly posted video in which president and chief executive officer Terri Cunliffe assures residents, families and staff that the provider has “activated local emergency preparedness teams” at every site and is following CDC and state and local health directives.
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 5:27 PM.
