Dear North Country Residents and Visitors,
Despite the fact that COVID-19 was unexpected, the proud partners of North Country Healthcare (Androscoggin Valley Hospital, North Country Home Health & Hospice Agency, Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital, and Weeks Medical Center) remain committed to our collective Mission of assuring consistent, high quality, accessible, and integrated healthcare to the communities we serve. However, as we adjust to these unprecedented times, that care may just look a little different.
As we continue to demonstrate and promote CDC guidelines of social distancing (remaining six feet from one another), washing hands often, covering coughs and sneezing into your elbow, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily, and staying home if you are sick, we recognize that our ongoing efforts to best ensure public health require us to take additional steps.
In recent days, our NCH facilities have:
– Restricted visitors to just one individual aged 18-59, per patient;
– Limited access of our Cafeteria to just providers and staff;
– Begun verbal and temperature screenings at entrances;
– Suspended our volunteer programs to ensure their and our patients’ and staffs’ health;
– Initiated telephone screenings with our Home Health patients prior to home visits.
We also realize that it is critical that we not only continue to care for our patients now, but also look ahead to what future needs might be. As such, we have made the difficult decision to postpone elective procedures (those which can safely be postponed) at Androscoggin Valley Hospital, Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital, and Weeks Medical Center. We are taking this action to ensure that we can continue to have the proper amount of space (beds) and personal protective equipment available should further developments occur. In addition, as referenced earlier, this will significantly help in terms of social distancing for both staff and patients.
Please know that as we move forward during these challenging times, we have every confidence in the expertise of our providers, nurses and staff as we collectively remain focused on keeping our friends, associates, and neighbors healthy. We thank you for the trust that you have placed in us.
Please continue to review the latest CDC guidelines for up-to-date information regarding COVID-19:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
North Country Healthcare updates will also be available at this site.