Ottawa area hospitals restrict visitor access to protect patients and staff members

This is a joint message from the Ottawa area hospitals: Bruyère, CHEO, Montfort, The Ottawa Hospital, The Royal, The University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Queensway Carleton Hospital. Ottawa, March 16, 2020 – Hospitals in the Ottawa area are restricting visitor access to their facilities as part of their evolving response to the presence of COVID-19 in the city. This is in line with guidance from the Ontario Ministry of Health and action being taken at hospitals across the province. Anyone planning to visit any of the following hospitals in the Ottawa area should visit that hospital’s website to review the current visitor policy before coming to hospital. Each hospital’s visitor policy is tailored to the needs of that facility.

• Bruyère
• CHEO
• Montfort
• The Ottawa Hospital
• The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Care
• The University of Ottawa Heart Institute
• Queensway Carleton Hospital

Hospitals in the area are now restricting access to their buildings to a small number of entrances at each site. Please follow signage posted onsite and be prepared to be screened on arrival for symptoms, travel history and contact history. To protect vulnerable patients, please:

• Do not visit any patient if you have a fever, cough, or difficulty breathing.
• Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer when you enter and leave the hospital, and before and after going into a patient’s room.
• Whenever possible, maintain a distance of 1 to 2 metres (3 to 6 feet) from those around you.

Hospital patients are at greater risk for infection as their bodies are already working hard to recover from their illness or injury.  When germs are brought into the hospital from well-meaning family or visitors, it puts all hospital patients at risk. Hospitals in the Ottawa area are also stepping up their infection prevention and control to help reduce the possible spread of COVID-19. Media contacts: Bruyère: Jesse Cressman Dickinson, jcressmandickinson@bruyere.org CHEO: Paddy Moore, pmoore@cheo.on.ca Montfort: communications@montfort.on.ca The Ottawa Hospital: Michaela Schreiter, mschreiter@toh.ca The Royal: Karen Monaghan, karen.monaghan@theroyal.ca The University of Ottawa Heart Institute Leigh B. Morris, lmorris@ottawaheart.ca Queensway Carleton Hospital: Ann Fuller, afuller@qch.on.ca