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Winchester Hospital Revises Visitation Policy for Children during Influenza Season
Winchester, Mass. — In a continuing effort to protect our patients and visitors from seasonal flu and H1N1 flu, Winchester Hospital is instituting a temporary change to its visitation policy. Effective Monday, November 9, 2009, only healthy visitors 18 years of age and older are permitted to visit patients at the hospital’s main campus located at 41 Highland Ave. in Winchester.
Additionally, all visitors to Winchester Hospital must wash their hands or use a gel hand cleanser before entering and leaving a patient’s room. Visitors are further requested to cough or sneeze into the bend of their elbow.
Winchester Hospital’s new visitation rules are based on recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which indicate that pregnant women and young people are among the most vulnerable to H1N1.
“Winchester Hospital is dedicated to delivering the safest, highest quality care to our patients, and we need visitors’ cooperation to help us do so during influenza season,” said Kathy Schuler, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Winchester Hospital. “We will continue to work with the Department of Public Health to keep the public informed as new information about H1N1 becomes available.”
About Winchester Hospital
Winchester Hospital is the first community hospital in Massachusetts to earn Magnet recognition, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence. As the northwest suburban Boston area’s leading provider of comprehensive health care services, the 229-bed facility provides care in general, bariatric and vascular surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery. Winchester Hospital has clinical affiliations with several nationally recognized hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. To learn more, visit www.winchesterhospital.org. |
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