Mega Doctor News
CORPUS CHRISTI – At Driscoll Health System, our priority is always the health and safety of our patients, members, families, employees, physicians and communities we serve.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Driscoll continues to provide care to children in need, including surgery and any other appropriate treatment for illness and injuries.
If your child needs to be brought to the hospital or needs to see his/her physician, do not hesitate to bring them. Driscoll Children’s Hospital is working closely with the health departments in our communities and following CDC guidelines as they relate to COVID-19. Our hospital and clinics remain open, and we are following guidelines for protection and we are keeping our hospital and clinics as safe as possible for everyone.
Some measures we have in place include:
• Implementing Code Dove. When Code Dove is announced via Driscoll’s PA system all staff stop what they are doing to practice hand hygiene and invite patients and families to join them in the process.
• Screening all visitors for symptoms before they are allowed into our hospital and clinics.
• Limiting the number of entrances to our hospital to help in the screening process of visitors.
• Decreasing and now ramping up procedures based on Governor Abbott’s and the CDC’s recommendations. Essential procedures continued to take place throughout the crisis and we are now expanding the procedures we will do while keeping everyone’s safety as the top priority.
• Designating a unit of the hospital with extra precautionary measures around infectious containment for patients with infectious respiratory illnesses.
• Expanding our telemedicine reach to reduce exposure for patients, families and staff.
• Recognizing some of our patients are unable to travel and require in-person visits. Driscoll continues to fly our pediatric sub-specialists to our clinics in Brownsville, Harlingen, Laredo, McAllen and Victoria.
• Implementing a “Fast Pass” for our most vulnerable patients, those with special needs such as cystic fibrosis, cancer and congenital heart disease that put them at greater risk for complications from the virus. The “Fast Pass” for quicker service allows them to bypass many of the normal admission steps.
• Modifying our visitation policy to prioritize everyone’s safety.
• Implementing Universal Masking for everyone coming into the hospital and clinics. If someone presents without a mask, we provide a mask for them.
• Continuing to meet or exceed all cleaning and disinfecting requirements and recommendations at our facilities.
