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Jul 9, 2021
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'SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) --- At Memorial Hospital in South Bend, nurses are doing what they normally do: They are helping their patients and keeping things clean. What\'s different, though, is a set of new visitor access guidelines implemented by Beacon Health System. Why? Memorial Hospital Medical Affairs Vice President Dale Patterson explains. “We implemented hospital restrictions on Friday to try and keep the hospital safe for everyone who is a patient and who are coming to visit patients here at the hospital in light of the coronavirus,” Patterson told 16 News Now Monday. Those guidelines include no more than two healthy visitors per patient, visitors must be 18 older, and those looking to connect with their loves ones at the hospital are asked to do so remotely from home if possible. “It would be great if people can connect through FaceTime or other apps through their iPads and their cellphones and stop coming to the hospital, particularly if they are young children,” Patterson said. Patterson added that if the coronavirus were to reach Memorial Hospital, staff is ready. “At Memorial in particular, we\'re designating particular rooms that care for patients that potentially have coronavirus or other infectious diseases. We\'re ramping our efforts to care for more people than we usually can who have that,” Paterson said. And while the guidelines are implemented to help maintain a clean and healthy environment for visitors, patients and staff, Paterson says the most important thing right now is to remain calm. “The biggest thing we want people right now to know is to stay calm. We know that most people who get this will recover and very few will be in the hospital, but we want them to know from the hospital\'s perspective, those people that do need to be in the hospital, we are ready and we\'ll be able to take care of them when they get here,” Patterson said. Beacon Health System says it is also preparing staff to be protected with proper gear and cleaning equipment to be ready for any increase in the patients they are seeing.'See also:
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