Home

Visits and support from family and friends are welcome and can be helpful to a patient’s recovery where clinically appropriate. Samaritan provides a caring environment while recognizing the significant therapeutic benefit that may be derived from supporting a patient’s relationships with family and friends. Samaritan shall seek to realize this benefit in a manner consistent with maintaining safety and patient privacy.

Visitation Guidelines

Click Here to Download 

Definitions

Support Person: An adult, aged 18 or over, identified by the patient or the patient’s legal surrogate to be an active part of the patient’s health care team and can stay with the patient at all times, unless his/her presence infringes on other’s rights, safety, or is medically or therapeutically harmful to the patient and/or staff. Support persons are designated for: pediatric patients (must be a parent or guardian), Labor and Delivery patients, patients with cognitive impairments or intellectual/ developmental disabilities and patients who are at end-of-life or on comfort measures.

Visitor: A person visiting a patient at Samaritan Medical Center during normal visiting hours or a person accompanying a patient to an Emergency Department visit or scheduled outpatient appointment.

Guidelines

Samaritan Medical Center caregivers are committed to maintaining a patient-family centered environment, and they will make every effort to accommodate visits to patients. Some nursing units may have unique visiting guidelines because of the type of patients being cared for there, the size of the patient care areas or rooms, and/or the prevalence of infectious diseases.

Samaritan Medical Center has the right to rescind the visitation hours and rights based upon the safety and welfare of the patient and the staff and as necessary, in order to conduct normal hospital operations. The reasons for the clinical restriction or limitation must be explained to the patient and their anticipated support person or visitors.

At certain times or situations, staff may need to limit visitation for the patient. The reasons may include but are not limited to:

• A patient’s medical condition
• The family’s health and safety
• A patient’s wish for privacy or uninterrupted rest time
• A non-private room
• Behavior presenting a direct risk or threat to the patient, hospital staff, or others in the immediate environment
• Patient’s risk of infection by the visitor
• Visitor’s risk of infection by the patient
• Extraordinary protections because of a pandemic or infectious disease outbreak
• Substance abuse treatment protocols requiring restricted visitation
• COVID-19 prevalence/exposure
• Depending upon the prevalence of COVID-19 in Jefferson County, Samaritan is required to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NYS Department of Health guidelines regarding source control

General Hospital Visitation and Support Person Guidelines

• Inpatients (patients admitted) at Samaritan Medical Center may have two (2) Visitors present at a time during designated visiting hours. There is no limit to the number of total visitors per day.
• General visiting hours are every day from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., but there are certain exceptions on specific units (see below).
• When entering or exiting, inpatient’s Visitors/Support Persons must check- in/out through the Main Entrance in the front lobby of the Medical Center (off of Washington St.).
• Visitors/Support Persons must check-out through the Main Lobby in order for more Visitors/Support Persons to be allowed into the facility.
• All pediatric patients under the age of 18 may have both parents/guardians during their entire stay, no matter the unit or department.
• All Visitors/Support Persons must wear a visitor ID badge
• Support Person(s) must be age 18 or older. All exceptions will need to be approved through the unit Charge Nurse and Nursing Supervisor.
• Visitors must be age 12 or older. All exceptions will need to be approved through the unit Charge Nurse and Nursing Supervisor.
• Anyone may visit the cafeteria, coffee, and gift shop while in the hospital.
• Proper hand hygiene is required for all.
• Guidance regarding face mask use must be followed at all times. This guidance could change frequently depending on COVID-19 infection precautions or other public health emergencies outbreaks in the facility/community.
• If a patient is admitted to the hospital from the Emergency Department, Surgical Services, or another outpatient unit, the Support Person/Visitor must then follow hospital inpatient visitation guidelines.

Specific Unit/Department Visitation and Support Person Guidelines:

Specific unit visitation may vary depending on the type of patients being cared for, the size of the patient care areas or rooms, or rate of infectious disease in the unit.

Limited exceptions may be made at the discretion of the individual unit Charge Nurse and Nursing Supervisor who has the authority to determine the number of visitors and length of visitation, based on the patient’s needs and the unit activities.