COVID Chronicle

Adapting to Safe Distancing

Fewer People in Spaces One difficult but necessary decision was limiting visitation. Unless absolutely necessary, we determined that the possible exposure of patients, staff, and yes, even the visitors themselves was a risk too great to take. While not everyone was happy about this decision most understood the need for it.

Safe, or social, distancing quickly became the COVID-19 mantra, following hot on the heels of asking people to do “The Five.”

For the safety of all

STOP AND CALL If you have any of the following symptoms, stop and call ahead before entering the building:

While staying home was best practice, as essential workers we know that is not always possible. In a culture of handshakes, high-fives, and face-to-face meetings we had to find ways to adapt and to help our patients adapt.

� Sneezing � Sore or scratchy throat � Stuffy nose

� Fever � Cough � Runny nose

Please call: 844.489.1822

Rendering

Patient Care Providing safe, reliable patient care in the time of COVID-19 was the most important challenge we faced. While some elective procedures and visits could be delayed not all care can wait. To protect patients and staff we started changing the way we do U R C O M M U N I T Y S A F E T T H R O U G H PLEASE STAY SIX FEET APART A

Project: Northern Light Health

Patient Cohorts and Alternative Care Sites One of the biggest steps we took, and continue to take, is trying to keep COVID-19 patients in separate care areas from other patients to help limit exposure. Early on we developed tent sites, which have transitioned to dedicated Date: 04.30.20 Revisions: Design Review By: CP/JF Type S

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Filename: NOR0217_181974_RND

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PLEASE STAY SIX FEET APART

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business. For business side staff who still needed to come into the office this could be as simple as moving into spaces recently vacated by those who could work from home, giving us room to spread out. For patient care areas, we needed to look at changing processes. E W I L L S E E Type RFD.b Floor Decal 14.0"d

Type RFD.a Floor Decal 12.0"d

space and processes in permanent locations for our facilities. We established a system wide central triage phone service to support the implementation of external testing tent sites in all our member hospital communities to help patients determine next steps when they have symptoms.

Scale: 3" = 1'

COLOR KEY

First Light: PMS 7549C Moss: PMS 390C Pine: PMS 2301C Wintergreen: PMS 7723C Tourmaline: PMS 2236C

Notes: • Sign copy shown is for sample purposes only

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Product Approval