Message from the Director of the Pediatric Subacute Unit
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September 2021
Dear Families,
Whittier Hospital is fortunate enough to have a new Child Life Specialist
on staff. KC Fernandez CCLS joined our team in September 2021 and we are
fortunate to have her. She has brought experience and great ideas to the
PSA unit. KC provides a great service in improving quality of life for
our special kiddos on the pediatric subacute. Please join me in thanking
KC Fernandez for the wonderful work and service she provides.
Sincerely,
Reinali Zabalerio RN
Director Pediatric Sub-acute
Whittier Hospital Medical Center
9080 Colima Rd.
Whittier, CA 90605
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
August, 2021
Dear Families,
We are saddened to announce that Christian Liu, our Child Life Specialist,
is no longer working with Whittier Pediatric Sub-Acute. We will miss her
greatly as she worked wonderfully with our families and residents for
two years. We understand that this will have an impact to the structure
of the activities of our residents and their families but we are working
diligently towards filling the position. We ask for your patience as we
work towards creating a plan that meets our patient’s needs during
this transition. This includes changes to our FaceTime schedule.
We are requesting your cooperation with changes to our FaceTime schedule.
We will be contacting you to coordinate new times to help with the structure
of our day-to-day care of our residents. At this time, no changes will
affect our one-on-one visitation schedule we do continue to request families
contact us 24 hours in advance to schedule a visit. We thank you all for
your cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely,
Reinali Zabalerio RN
Director Pediatric Sub-acute
Whittier Hospital Medical Center
9080 Colima Rd.
Whittier, CA 90605
March 25, 2021
Dear Family Members:
We want to provide you with an update on the situation at Whittier Hospital
Pediatric Subacute regarding visitation. The safety and wellbeing of our
residents is our top priority. We have worked diligently to prevent infection
from COVID-19 within the Pediatric Subacute. Since March of 2020, we have
had Zero residents with confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The California Department of Public Health has issued detailed guidelines
regarding visitation for units such as the Pediatric Subacute. Whittier
Hospital Pediatric Subacute may restrict visitation due to COVID-19 county
positivity rates and Tier level, the unit’s COVID-19 status, staffing
issues, the residents COVID-19 status, visitor’s symptoms, lack
of adherence to infection control protocols and factors relevant to the
COVID-19 pandemic. This being said, we are happy to announce that we will
slowly open the unit for outdoor and indoor visitation on April 12, 2021.
Any visitor entering the unit must adhere to the core principles and best
practices to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission regardless of the
visitor or resident vaccination status:
- Visitation will be scheduled in advance, a minimum of 24 hours prior to
the visit with the Clinical Manager at 562-907-1770 or Child Life Specialist,
Christina Lui at 562-907-1726.
- The number of visitors for outdoor visitation is 2-3 people and one (1)
person for indoor visitation.
- Minors under the age of 18 years old will not be permitted at this time.
- Visitors will be screened for fever and symptoms prior to entering the hospital.
- Visitors will be required to wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment
as instructed by staff.
- Visitors will be required to follow hand hygiene protocols.
- Visitors will be instructed by the staff on the visitation protocol.
- Social distancing will be enforced for all visitations with some exceptions.
- Visitation will be restricted when the county is in Tier (1) purple with
some exceptions.
- Visitors will not be allowed to wander the unit or visit with other residents or staff.
- Visitation will be limited to 30 minutes to 1 hour or as tolerated by the resident.
- Visitors may be required to present a negative COVID-19 test with results
less than 2 days prior to the visit dependent upon the visitors and residents
vaccination status. (Depending on County Positivity Rate and Tier Status)
Thank you for your support during this very difficult year. It is a privilege
to have the opportunity to care for your child and together we have kept
the unit COVID-19 free.
Sincerely,
Reinali Zabalerio RN
Director of Pediatric Subacute