PITTSFIELD, Maine — Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital canceled most of its patient visits this weekend. The update comes after Somerset County, where the hospital is located, has seen a significant rise of COVID-19 cases in the last few weeks, both in their communities and inside the hospital.
"At one point, about 23 percent of our patients on our med surge unit were Covid positive patients, Covid has greatly increased in this area, we've certainly seen more patients in the last 72 hours than we've seen since Covid began actually," says Terri Vieira, Northern Light Sebasticook Valley Hospital president.
Visitations are canceled until further notice.
There are some exceptions:
- patients at end-of-life
- pediatric patients can have one parent or guardian
- patients who may need help with mobility or communicating with the care team can have one support person
"It's a very difficult decision because it's certainly not one that we want to do, but out of a balance of compassion and safety, we really felt that we needed to reduce visitation to the extent we can. We know there is community spread, and so we need to keep our patients, our staff, and our communities safe and we know we can do that by minimizing interactions," says Vieira.
Northern Light Sebasticook Valley hospital is still open for regular patient care activities and appointments (with screening process at the door of the hospital). Anyone who walks to any Northern Light hospital is now required to switch their cloth mask to a hospital-grade one, which will be provided at the main entrance of each of the 10 Northern Light hospitals.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor also updated its visiting hours.
"On Tuesday, November 24, visiting hours will be reduced to 12 to 6 pm daily. The majority of patients will be permitted one visitor per patient per day; that visitor must be 18 years or older, remain with the patient for the duration of their visit, and will be asked to keep their mask on at all times, which means no eating or drinking while on campus," says a spokesperson for Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center.
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center has these visitor exceptions in place:
- End of life - two visitors at the bedside, up to four visitors daily.
- Patients who lack capacity or are intubated - one visitor at the bedside, up to two visitors for the duration of the patient’s stay.
- Pediatric/NICU/PICU patients - up to two parents/guardians/primary caregivers at the bedside for the duration of the patient’s stay.
- Labor and Delivery patients - one support person at the bedside for the duration of the patient’s stay.
Personal face masks will not be permitted, patients and visitors are now all required to wear face masks supplied by Northern Light Health while on any of its hospitals.