MADIGAN ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. – As the state of Washington moves to Phase 2 of its COVID-19 reopening plan, Lt. Gen. Randy George, I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, commanding general, remains largely consistent with Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan.
George announced the opening of many public areas on JBLM at 25 percent capacity during JBLM town hall livestreamed on Facebook on Feb. 1.
Col. (Dr.) Scott Roofe, Madigan’s acting commander, announced changes to Madigan’s visitation policy will occur this week as well.
“We want to stay mirrored to what the community is doing, keeping in mind that our military population has unique needs and trying to accommodate for those as well. What you will see in the coming week is refinement, expansion of that visitation policy” explained Roofe.
The last iteration of the visitation policy was issued on Nov. 24, 2020. Prior to that, changes were made in June 2020. In order to protect patients and staff, as the threat of COVID-19 changed, so has the policy.
“Madigan is continually evaluating the local COVID-19 case rate and making adjustments to our posture. For the past month, there has been a decrease in local case rates approaching the rates we were seeing before Thanksgiving last year” remarked Col. (Dr.) George Leonard, Madigan’s chief medical officer.
Since the last change to the visitation policy, Madigan has vaccinated staff, service members and members of the community aged 75 and older with the Pfizer-/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
“We have had the majority of our clinical staff opt-in for vaccination for both their safety and the safety of our patients. Based on those facts we have determined that we can safely permit additional visitors to accompany, assist and provide support for our patients. There are certain areas where the risk is deemed lower and other areas where it is higher and as a result, we have tailored the changes to accommodate those differences. Safety will always be the priority at Madigan and we are pleased to have the opportunity to safely expand our visitation policy” stated Leonard.
Under the new policy, patients will be authorized one adult caregiver/escort in both outpatient and inpatient settings.
Labor and Delivery patients admitted for labor will now be authorized two adult visitors during their stay. Only one of those visitors will be allowed to stay overnight. Visitors are not limited to visiting hours.
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and inpatient Pediatric unit (4N) will authorize two adult caregivers at a time. Caregivers are not limited to visiting hours.
The Emergency Room will have no visitors for adult patients at this time. However, one adult visitor will be permitted for those who are: elderly (requiring assistance, power of attorney, etc.), intoxicated or altered, mental health patients, pediatric patients and critically ill or at end-of-life.
Madigan anticipates more positive changes towards reopening as more vaccines become available.
Vaccines will be offered to Madigan patients, including military family members and retirees, after prioritized groups and individuals have been vaccinated.
For the complete Visitor Policy Update, please visit: https://madigan.tricare.mil/Getting-Care/Visitor-Guidelines
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