Grande Ronde Hospital | Life & Health | Summer 2020

A serious concern for many providers across the nation, and certainly here in Union County, is the trend of patients not seeking medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. All Grande Ronde Hospital & Clinics locations are open. We are safe. And we are here to care for you. On March 2, we initiated our internal Emergency Operations Plan, before the state declared a state of emergency via EO-13 on March 8. We took this initiative in early March to put additional processes and precautions in place to make sure our patients would receive care in the safest environment possible. We began working on solutions to establish clear protections for our patients, our employees and our communities. One example is that it made sense to us to screen patients, visi- tors and employees for coronavirus-related symptoms. We continued to implement best practices for safety, cleanliness and protection in each of our locations for primary care and specialty care, as well as hospital and emergency care. We follow all state and federal guidelines for these processes, as we always have. Caring for our community with confidence When looking from the outside in, some new measures we put in place may not be as obvious as our screening stations and Plexiglas guards. However, our medical, operational and policy leadership teams have conferred daily since March 2 to assess, adjust and implement these protections and more. Our efforts have been taken for the sole purpose of protecting patients and staff to ensure we can care for our community with confi- dence during these unprecedented times. Because of these steps taken early on, our locations remain open with the highest standards of safety, cleanli- ness and disinfection. We continue to assess and monitor our efforts at all of our facilities to ensure the safety of our patients. TOP PHOTOS: Grande Ronde Hospital & Clinics established screening stations in March 2020. BOTTOM RIGHT: Grande Ronde Hospital & Clinics purchased the first TORCH UV disinfecting tool in 2016. We now have seven units. BOTTOM LEFT: We installed Plexiglas guards at our Regional Medical Plaza and other locations. We put your safety first LIFE AND HEALTH is published as a community service for the friends and patrons of GRANDE RONDE HOSPITAL, 900 Sunset Drive, La Grande, OR 97850. Jeremy P. Davis, MHA President/CEO Mardi Ford Director, Communications&Marketing; Public Information Officer, LifeandHealth Editor Wendy Roberts Senior Director ofAdministrative Services, CommunityBenefitsOfficer Information in LIFE AND HEALTH comes from a wide range of medical experts. If you have any concerns or questions about specific content that may affect your health, please contact your health care provider. Models may be used in photos and illustrations. 2020 © Coffey Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. 2 LIFE AND HEALTH SUMMER 2020