Medina Memorial Hospital/OCH implements many new protocols during pandemic

MEDINA – The Covid-19 pandemic has changed lives for everyone, especially for the nation’s hospitals.

Orleans Community Health and Medina Memorial Hospital are no exception.

Jessica Capurso, director of Outreach, Education and Marketing, has documented some of the steps Medina’s health care professionals have undertaken to insure staff, patients and visitors are safe.

First, all staff must complete Covid-19 screening and temperature checks every time they enter the hospital after being off the hospital campus.

All patients must complete Covid-19 screening and temperature checks upon arrival for appointments, and all patients are required to wear a mask covering their nose and mouth. All staff are also required to wear masks covering their nose and mouth. In addition, staff must wear surgical or N-95 masks, as well as goggles and/or face shields while interacting with patients and/or co-workers.

Extra office cleaning protocols have been put in place. After patient rooms are stripped and cleaned by Environmental Services, a Clorox Total 360 System machine is utilized to spray the entire room with disinfectant cleaner that kills 99.9% of bacteria. This machine helps to reach places that may have been missed by the human hand or places that are out of reach.

Not only are these practices more time-consuming, they also incur added expenses for the hospital.

Other changes resulting from the pandemic are the absence of the Twig volunteers, who manned the greeter desk in the lobby and the reception desk in registration area, saving the hospital money and saving hospital staff extra work.

At Medina Memorial Hospital, all services are by appointment only. No visitors are allowed in the lobby, so patients must enter by themselves, with the exception of minor children and those with a mental or physical disability which hospital staff is unable to support.

Emergency Room patients’ families have to leave a number which is given to the treatment team so the ER can provide updates.

Appointments can be made by calling 798-2000.

Middleport lab services at Dr. Stahl’s office are by appointment only unless there is/was a scheduled office visit there on the same day. Appointments can be made by calling 798-2000.

The Albion Walk-in Medical Clinic continues to offer walk-in services with no appointments. Services available can be viewed by clicking here.