To Our Patients and Community Members:
As many of you may know, the COVID-19 cases around the state continue to rise as well as within our community. While this was not unexpected, Delta Health along with other local agencies is taking this seriously and is continuing to take the necessary steps to keep our patients, colleagues and community members safe.
Now, we are asking our Western Slope family to continue doing their part – and even a little bit more now – to control the spread of this virus. By now you know the 3 W’s: wear your mask, wash your hands and watch your distance until it’s safer to see other people.
But did you know that your hospital system also has 3 S’s? The 3 S’s stand for space, supplies and staff. Space refers to the bed capacity at your local hospital and around the state of Colorado, and supplies refers to the supplies needed to keep our staff and patients safe. Staff refers to keeping our staff safe overall as we move into this new wave of cases and hospitalizations in Colorado.
To do our part and to stop employee to employee spread of infection, we have asked all employees that can work from home to do so. Our clinics have increased telehealth visits but continue to see patients that can be seen in-person by a provider. Providers are working every other day with their cohort or team to avoid cross-contamination.
In normal years, fall is always a busy time for hospitals. Now, with COVID-19 patients along with other seasonal-related illnesses/injuries, many hospitals are busier than ever. We also know that with flu season coming, it is imperative that we help slow the growth of hospitalizations now.
This is a critical time where Coloradans can help to flatten the curve. You did it earlier this year, and hospitals and healthcare workers need your help to do it again. We can all do our part to help control community spread and to help protect the health of our workforce. Our Delta Health family will also be doing our part – even at home – to control the spread of this virus.
We are closely following the developments and continue to make necessary changes to our hospital and clinic functions as the situation requires. We have recently updated our Visitation Policy which can be found HERE. All of our employees continue to go above and beyond to provide superior care and to adhere to stringent infection control practices.
As we move forward, we will continue to work together with local agencies to ensure that we are providing the optimum level of care, and we remain dedicated to providing you with the care that you need and deserve.
We know that each of you has been impacted differently at home and at work, but as we manage through the coming months, please know that we are all in this together and that together we can help protect our communities.
If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, or have been exposed to an individual who has tested positive, contact your primary care physician or Delta County Health Department at 970-874-2172 to make an appointment to be tested, and please adhere to the quarantine and isolation guidelines that can be found HERE.
Click HERE for additional information on Delta County’s COVID-19 guidelines, as well as the dashboard. You can also visit the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s COVID-19 resource page HERE.
Thank you for your commitment to our communities and our hospital! We are extremely thankful to each of you and are confident that we will emerge from this challenge – together – with an even greater appreciation of our strength and connectedness as a community.
Yours in Health,
Jacque Davis, MHA