Piedmont to use email to connect patients and families,friends

Community, Press Release
email

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Jasper, Ga.  Piedmont Mountainside Hospital has launched a special email address for family members and friends of patients so they can send messages while visitor restrictions are in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Families and friends of patients at Piedmont Mountainside Hospital can email greetings to [email protected]. Please include the patient’s name at the top of the message and a member of the care team will deliver it within 24 hours.

“We know it’s hard for our patients not to have their family and friends with them while they’re in the hospital, so we wanted to provide a simple way for people to connect,” said Allura Bury, Director of Patient Services and Facilities at Piedmont Mountainside. “We hope that sharing these messages with our patients will let them know their loved ones are thinking of them.”

Trending: Have your kids make a card for elderly

Last month, as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Piedmont Mountainside Hospital announced that visitors would not be permitted in the hospital, with few exceptions.

Exceptions include labor and delivery (one support person), essential family member of patients receiving end-of-life care, and legal guardian accompanying minors. Visitors who meet these criteria must call ahead to receive pre-approval and must pass health screenings before being allowed to enter the hospital.

“Restricting visitation now helps us keep patients safe, but we know it’s not easy for them or for their loved ones,” Bury said. “Sharing these messages is a simple, effective and important way to remind our patients that they aren’t alone.”

To learn more about Piedmont’s response to COVID-19, including ways you can help, visit here.

Piedmont Mountainside limits visitors to special circumstances

Community, News

Piedmont Mountainside Hospital is limiting visitors to special circumstances, upgrading their visitation policy to a level four. Pickens County has two confirmed cases of COVID-19. For more information on the cases, read our story here.

piedmont mountainside hospital

Piedmont Mountainside Hospital is limiting visitors to special circumstances such as birth and end-of-life to limit exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stacy Fentress, spokesperson for Piedmont and Piedmont Mountainside Hospitals, said the move was to limit exposure to staff and patients.

A level four visitation policy means no visitors are allowed except in special circumstances.

“There are two exceptions,” said Fentress.

Women in labor are allowed one support person with them and patients at the end-of-life are allowed two visitors. Even these visitors will be screened prior to be allowed into the hospital. Also, a guardian may accompany minor children, include those in the neonatal intensive care units.

“It can be confusing when people who want to visit are turned away,” said Fentress adding no decision has been made on how long the level four visitation policy will remain in effect, although she said it would be at least this week.

Piedmont Mountainside recently installed a mobile unit to expand it’s emergency department if needed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mobile unit, which is located outside of the Emergency Department, is not a COVID-19 testing center. It will be reserved for patients who are seeking emergency care, but who do not have respiratory symptoms.

“In addition to increasing capacity, the mobile unit will allow us to care for patients who don’t have respiratory symptoms in a different location from patients who do have respiratory symptoms,” said Denise Ray, CEO of Piedmont Mountainside Hospital. “Most importantly, this offers a way to make sure we’re able to offer high-quality care to people in our community in the most efficient way possible.”

The addition of the mobile unit is the latest of a number of efforts at Piedmont Mountainside aimed at protecting patients, visitors and staff from exposure to coronavirus.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Piedmont has worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies, including the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), to stay up-to-date with the latest information.

“It’s important to understand that the situation is evolving every day, and as the CDC changes its guidelines, we, in turn, are updating our practices to follow the latest best practices and protocols,” said Ray.

 

Back to Top