Maimonides Allowing Limited Visitation Under Pilot Program

Maimonides Medical Center is allowing patients two visitors per day during select hours, as New York’s pilot program allowing visitors to return to hospitals gets underway in 21 hospitals across the state.

Under the two-week program, which begins Tuesday, emergency-room patients will be allowed to have one visitor at all times.

Visitation will be permitted to patients in hospital rooms from 12-2 p.m., and 6-8 p.m., Sunday through Friday; and on Saturdays, from 12-2 p.m. and 7-11 p.m. Each patient may have no more than one visitor at a time, and no more than two total visitors per day. Visitors should coordinate with the patient’s family, so that the family knows who will be visiting the patient; once a patient has had two visitors in a day, they will be allowed no other visitors for the rest of the day.

Visitors will be screened for symptoms and undergo temperature checks, and will be provided with, and must wear, personal protective equipment.

A photo identification is required of all visitors at Maimonides.

In specific limited cases, expanded visitation will continue to be allowed: Pediatric patients may have one visitor at a time at all hours; women giving birth may have one visitor plus a doula; NICU patients may have one parent or legal guardian visiting between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.; a visitor is allowed in cases where it is deemed medically necessary, such as those with intellectual or developmental disabilities or dementia; and a visitor is permitted with a patient for whom death is imminent.

Most visitors had been banned from New York hospitals since March, in an effort to limit transmission of the coronavirus. But reports of neglect in hospitals resulted in extensive advocacy from city, state and federal elected officials, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last week a two-week pilot program to allow hospital visitation.

“I’m glad to hear that Maimonides is willing to abide by the new state guidelines to allow family visitation,” Councilman Kalman Yeger told Hamodia on Tuesday. “I’m very hopeful that they will abide by this commitment.”

Twenty-one hospitals are currently participating in the two-week pilot program. A full list of participating hospitals is available here.

Family of relatives in other hospitals should check with the hospital for details of its visitation program.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com