An updated visitor policy for all Samaritan Health Services hospitals, outpatient departments and clinics will go into effect Monday, Nov. 8. The updated policy was developed in response to decreasing COVID-19 infections in our region. Under the updated policy, patients at Samaritan hospitals, outpatient departments and clinics are allowed one visitor per day. Samaritan strongly encourages all visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a negative COVID-19 test result within the last 72 hours.
Exceptions to the visitor policy are:
Two adults (ages 18 and over) per day may visit or accompany a child patient.
Labor and delivery patients may have one visitor throughout their hospital stay and one
additional visitor during labor and delivery. A doula counts as a visitor.
Patients at the end of life may have visitors, with the number of visitors decided in
consultation with the care team.
Visitors to the Samaritan Pastega Regional Cancer Center in Corvallis must be ages 18
and over.
Patients with disabilities have a right to one designated support person per day, in
addition to one visitor.
Additional restrictions apply for COVID-19 hospital inpatients.
Another change, in accordance with Oregon Health Authority guidance, is that support persons
are subject to screening for coronavirus symptoms and exposure along with all other visitors
and staff.
“As a health care organization, we strongly recommend that all visitors to our facility get fully
vaccinated against COVID-19 or have a recent negative test for COVID-19 to help ensure the
safety of our staff and patients,” said infectious disease physician and Samaritan Coronavirus
Task Force Chair Adam Brady, MD. “We are thankful to our communities for being patient and
cooperative with our policies as we navigate this ever-changing pandemic.”
Visit samhealth.org/Coronavirus for more information.
