You’re safe in our care: A letter to our communities from MultiCare hospital presidents
To Our Valued Communities:
MultiCare has no higher priority than the safety of our patients and employees. While COVID-19 is new to our community, safely caring for patients with serious illnesses is not new to MultiCare. Every day, we routinely care for patients with contagious diseases at our hospitals and clinics — using the highest safety and quality standards and recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) — while protecting the health and safety of other patients.
We want you to take care of your health and the health of your loved ones and help you feel confident that you can do so safely. Here are some of the steps MultiCare is taking to further enhance our already high safety and quality standards:
All employees working in buildings where patient care is provided are required to wear a mask. We also require our employees to attest that they don’t have a fever or symptoms of any respiratory illness before starting every shift.
Patients and visitors have their temperature taken and are screened for COVID-19 at the entrance to all MultiCare locations.
All patients and visitors are asked to wear a face covering or mask in all MultiCare locations that provide patient care. We strongly encourage patients and visitors to bring their own, but we will supply masks to those who arrive without one.
We have made changes to our common areas to support 6-foot distancing between patients and visitors, including limiting the number of individuals who can be in those spaces, removing or reconfiguring seating and using signage to encourage physical distancing.
We’ve increased cleaning in all our facilities and clean high-touch areas, including chairs in waiting rooms, elevator buttons, door handles and countertops, multiple times a day.
Hand sanitizer is available throughout our facilities. In addition to frequent hand washing, MultiCare employees will use hand sanitizer often. We encourage our patients and visitors to do the same.
Patients who have symptoms of, or who have been diagnosed with, contagious illnesses such as COVID-19 are isolated and cared for by trained staff using the most appropriate, evidenced-based safety policies. These spaces are separated from other patient care areas.
Our emergency departments, hospitals, urgent cares and clinics have plenty of room available to safely care for everyone who has health care needs, and we are pleased to say that MultiCare is able to provide care for any and all health care needs.
Avoiding or delaying care because of worries about the virus could in fact do more harm than the virus might. So, don’t put off getting the care you need. MultiCare is here to help keep you well — and to keep you safe.
Thank you,
Jim Beatty
President & COO, MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital
Laureen Driscoll
President, MultiCare Allenmore Hospital & MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital
Jeff Poltawsky
President & Market Leader, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network
Gregory Repetti
President, MultiCare Deaconess Hospital & MultiCare Valley Hospital
Mark Smith
President & COO, MultiCare Auburn Medical Center & MultiCare Covington Medical Center
