Home > Huntington Hospital Services > Emergency & Trauma Center > We’re Here to Safely Care for You.

We’re Here to Safely Care for You.

Last updated: 8/10/2020

Delaying care? Huntington Hospital is here to safely care for you. We’re happy to say that when it comes to your health, there’s no need to wait. We’re offering a comprehensive range of services in a safe environment, so whether you need primary or emergency care, diagnostic services, maternity care or even surgery, we’re here to help.

Nothing is more important to us than ensuring the safety of our patients and community as we continue to confront COVID-19. That’s why we’ve enhanced our safety protocols with your well-being in mind.

Read our press release on Safe, Compassionate Care Close to Home to learn more about how we’re keeping you safe.

Please consider this page as a resource for you and your family. We will also keep this page updated with important notifications to patients, visitors and the community about hospital operations during this time.

Important Phone Numbers

Huntington Hospital COVID-19 Testing Results Dashboard

For patient tests conducted between March 6, 2020 and August 13, 2020

Total Patients
Tested		Total Negative
Patients Tested		Total Positive
Patients Tested		Total Pending
Tests		Current Hospitalized Patients
with COVID-19
1192410578 13152636
Data reflects lab results from 9:00 AM daily
Huntington Hospital has been testing for COVID-19 along CDC guidelines to include high-risk individuals, those who are very ill and require hospital care, healthcare providers and other high-likelihood individuals due to known exposures. The number of positive patients may not indicate overall prevalence of COVID-19 in the outside community.

Our Community Says Thank You to Healthcare Providers

We love all the wonderful messages of thanks we have received from the community.

    • For formal media engagement with our hospital, or if you are considering including us in a story, please refer to our Media Policy here.

    COVID-19 FAQs

    Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and answers from our Huntington Hospital experts.

    • Huntington Hospital is open and we have protocols in place to care for you safely. Please do not delay care.
    • We’re here with a full range of hospital services, including elective surgeries and maternity care that currently include rigorous screening efforts in advance of your visit. 
    • While we continue to limit visitors to the campus, we’ve employed universal symptom screening for everyone entering our facility. This includes taking each person’s temperature and enforcing our mask policy.
    • COVID-19 is still a reality and we continue to urge our community members to take extra precautions to keep yourself and those around you safe.
    • We strongly advise you to continue in social distancing as appropriate, following updated instructions from Pasadena, LA county and other officials as they become available.
    • In addition, continue to wash your hands thoroughly, cover your mouth with your elbow or tissue if you sneeze and do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth, especially with unwashed hands.
    • As always, please continue to review the most up-to-date information related to COVID-19 on our website, as well as the CDC.
    • Should you begin to feel sick, please call your physician who can advise you on next steps. We also encourage you to consider telehealth services through Huntington Health Physicians or our affiliate Exer Urgent Care.
    • If you do come to our Emergency Room for severe COVID symptoms, we are asking that you please leave all valuables/belongings at home and to wear a face mask, per update from the state of California. For the safety of our patients and staff, we will not be returning any clothing or other fabric items (e.g., blankets, pillows) that were in isolation. We will hold all other belongings for pick up for 30 days. Please contact Patient Relations at (626) 397-5211 with questions. We appreciate your understanding during this unprecedented health crisis.
    • While we hope continued social distancing measures will help avoid a large surge of COVID-19 patients, we have developed a surge plan, when needed, to ensure care for the sickest patients.
    • In early March, the hospital began instituting measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and help flatten the curve, such as cancelling elective surgeries and restricting visitors to the hospital.
    • Thanks to the good work of the community, Huntington Hospital has seen a decrease in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since hitting our peak in April, though we are closely watching as our city and state continue to loosen restrictions for spikes in cases.
    • Huntington has now resumed elective surgeries and is currently open for all essential care services.
    • Huntington Hospital also uses the following infection prevention measures, including: 
      • Universal masking and symptom screening for everyone entering our facility. This includes taking each person’s temperature and enforcing our mask policy. 
      • Pre-surgical and pre-procedural screening (COVID-19 testing) efforts. 
      • Enhanced cleaning facility-wide. 
      • Dedicated COVID-19 units with enhanced air flows, traffic flows, and work flows. 
      • Limited visitors to the campus and the ongoing suspension of our volunteer program. 
      • Suspension or limitation of non-essential services. 
      • Staff and physician training and education. 
    • Yes, at this time, we are testing patients for COVID-19 who require emergency care and are showing related symptoms – for example, patients experiencing a very high fever and shortness of breath.
    • Get more information on our COVID-19 Testing page.
    • Most people who suspect they have COVID-19 will not need to come to the hospital.
      • If you are feeling unwell but not experiencing a medical emergency, you should stay home and avoid contact with others. You should call your physician, too.
      • If you are experiencing symptoms that include a fever, dry cough and body aches, please call your physician immediately. Your doctor will advise next steps.
      • Patients who do not exhibit COVID-19 symptoms or aren’t ill enough to seek care in an emergency setting should please call their primary care provider with requests to be tested.
      • If you do not have a primary care physician, we strongly urge you to look for one. You can also call urgent care when you are too sick to stay home but not sick enough to require emergency or hospital care.
    • Due to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, we are temporarily restricting visitors to our campus with very few exceptions (outlined below). While we understand that it is difficult to not be able to visit or stay with a loved one while they are in the hospital, our policy* is essential to support the health and safety of our caregivers and preserve our limited supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns and more. We do have several exceptions to our no-visitor policy, however:
      • We reserve the right to ask visitors to leave at any time.
      • Any visitor who exhibits signs and symptoms of illness will not be permitted entrance.
      • Disruptive individuals will be asked to leave campus.
    • Only the following individuals meet exceptions for visitation during COVID-19:
      • One healthy parent at a time for pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit patients.
      • One healthy birth partner for labor, delivery, postpartum and recovery units.
      • One healthy visitor to drop off and pick up all patients having procedures who require assistance (cannot walk, for example), including outpatient surgery, GI lab, radiology, and catheterization lab.
        • This accommodation must be arranged in advance via the pre-operative phone call.
        • To minimize exposure, visitor cannot accompany patient to the unit or procedural area. Upon clearing the illness screening to gain access to the campus, the visitor can help the patient to the registration area but then must leave the campus.
        • Upon completion of the patient’s procedure, the family will be called and notified of next steps related to when the patient will be ready to go home and instructions for how to reunite with the patient at the hospital so they may go home.
        • All procedural patients who do not require assistance can be dropped off outside of the main entrance to the hospital.
      • One healthy visitor to drop off a patient in the emergency department.
        • Once the patient is taken back into the care area, the visitor must leave campus and wait for a phone call.
        • Visitors may wait in their cars or at an off-campus location.
        • The only exception to this is that one healthy parent of a patient under the age of 18 will be allowed back into the care area with their child.                                                           

    End of Life Visitation:

    • Patients receiving end-of-life care may have a one-time visit from a loved one upon approval from the house supervisor.
    • Guidelines for end of life visitation for COVID-19 positive and rule-out patients are based on health authority recommendations related to exposure and include:
    • One visitor per patient only.
      • Visitor must sign waiver related to exposure risk.
      • Visits will need to be staggered based on unit activity, visitor must be flexible to that changing and unpredictable nature.
      • Visitor must agree to follow all policies and requirements for visitation, including successful completion of illness screening at entry point and proper use of PPE while on campus
      • Upon clearing screening, visitor will be escorted to the unit and, upon conclusion of visit, be escorted directly out of the hospital to minimize exposure to others.
      • Visits are restricted to be no more than 15 minutes in length to reduce exposure.
      • Visitor must remain in patient’s room during the visit (no in-and-out of the unit, this is to help preserve PPE)
    • Thank you for your patience and understanding. Our policies are guided by the safety of our healthcare workers, the safety of our community and preservation of PPE as this pandemic evolves.
    • We revisit this policy weekly based on guidance from health authorities, availability of PPE, COVID-19 patient census and the advice of our infectious disease specialists.
    • The hospital has experienced the good fortune of being the recipient of thousands of donated N-95 masks, surgical masks, gloves, gowns and other crucial items to ensure the safety of our caregivers and patients.
      • Thanks to this overwhelming response and generosity of our community, Huntington has decided to temporarily suspend its donation center while we continue fighting COVID-19.
      • While that facility will no longer be the site for donated medical supplies, the hospital is still accepting handmade masks and surgical caps only. If you would like to donate these items, please mail your donation to Huntington Hospital, c/o Volunteer Services, 100 W. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91105
      • We continue to work with local health and other government authorities to ensure supply of critical items.
    • We have a surge plan that we will activate when needed to ensure all beds at the hospital are available to care for the sickest patients.
    • We took down our FEMA tents outside of our emergency room, and we no longer need the mobile hospital we had secured. The surge tents at 10 Congress remain for now as we monitor COVID-19 cases. Recently, Pasadena City Council voted to take down the care site at the Convention Center.
    • Following the recent re-opening of society, we are seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases in both our hospital and outpatient locations. These numbers are still well below the peak we experienced in late April, and we are prepared to continue to treat all patients within our hospital walls for the time being.
    • We are also collaborating with local public health departments as well as other hospitals via the Hospital Association of Southern California and the California Hospital Association.
    • We have licensed physicians to call upon should we need them in the event of a surge.

    • Yes, and due to patient privacy laws, we cannot comment further about individual patient specifics.
    • We have a public daily dashboard on this webpage (above) with general patient testing and hospitalization data.
    • As with all communicable diseases, we have a well-defined process in place to ensure the health and safety of our patients, physicians, nurses, employees and volunteers, which reflects best practices and necessary precautions.
    • This process has been successful in preventing the spread of such diseases, and we will continue to draw upon our extensive expertise dealing with communicable diseases to serve our community.
    • Yes, we are still the safest place to have your baby. We have strict protocols in place to support infection prevention measures, following best practices and necessary precautions.
    • Safety protocols include temperature screenings at the entrance of our hospital, and enhanced cleaning and sterilization processes. Further, the architecture of the maternal-child unit is naturally separate from the rest of the hospital. Labor and Delivery as well as our post-partum maternity units sit are a separate annex (similar to a wing), with a secure entrance.
    • Safety is our top priority for our expectant mothers. As a result, we have restricted the visitor policy and allow only one healthy birth partner to accompany the patient.
    • For more information, please visit our Huntington Baby webpage.
    • Our hospital is providing free online childbirth preparation and breastfeeding classes to our expectant mothers.
    • We are working to make sure you receive the necessary resources to have a comfortable pregnancy and feel ready for delivery.
    • For more information, please visit our Huntington Baby page.
    • We are proud to share a number of telehealth service options available to our community: Huntington Health Physicians Telehealth Services and Exer VirtualCare.
    • Huntington Health Physicians (HHP), our partner physician network, is now offering telehealth services to provide our community with access to quality healthcare from the convenience and safety of their homes.
      • HHP offers easy setup for new patients, a private and secure connection, and coverage by most major insurances, including Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
      • For current HHP patients: For more details, call your Huntington Health Physician’s office or visit their website.
      • Not a current HHP patient? While HHP physicians are offering this service to all of their current patients, new patients may be able to sign-up, though availability is limited. If you do not already have a primary physician, please visit our HHP Locations page to determine the most convenient office for you. Speak with their office staff for a referral to a physician currently accepting patients.
    • Additionally, Huntington Hospital has an affiliation with Exer Urgent Care Pasadena and La Canada to support access to care when community members can’t wait to see their primary care doctor but aren’t in need of emergency care. Exer is now offering similar telehealth services for their urgent care patients. Built and staffed by Huntington Hospital’s ER physicians, these locations offer an ER alternative to our community.
    • Due to overwhelming response and generosity of our community, Huntington has received an abundance of medical supplies. We have decided to temporarily suspend our donation center.
    • Visit our How You Can Help page here.
    • Please note that we cannot accept donations of food. We know that feeding people is a powerful expression of caring, and our community generously wants to care for those who are caring for others – for example, our wonderful employees and physicians. Unfortunately, donations of perishable food cause infection prevention concerns.
    • Due to storage space limitations and safety issues, we are asking patients entering the hospital for COVID-19 illness to leave all valuables/belongings at home.
      • For the safety of our patients and staff, we will not be returning any clothing or other fabric items (e.g., blankets, pillows) that were in isolation.
      • We will hold all other belongings for pick up for 30 days.
      • Please contact Patient Relations at (626) 397-5211 with questions.
    • We appreciate your understanding during this unprecedented health crisis.
    • In the absence of being able to visit, families have been calling in more to check on their loved ones. This has proven difficult for our nurses, as they are exceptionally busy at this time caring for patients.
      • If your hospitalized family member is able to communicate on their own, we ask that you please contact them directly.
      • If you would like to speak with the care team, we ask that families of hospitalized patients please designate only ONE family member to call the hospital. This helps limit the number of phone calls and keeps our focus on providing direct patient care.
      • We ask that the designated family member kindly refrain from calling during shift change (6:30 a.m. – 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.), as this is when care teams are sharing important patient information with the incoming shift.
    • In the absence of being able to visit, families have been calling in more to check on their loved ones. This has proven difficult for our nurses, as they are exceptionally busy at this time caring for patients.
      • If your hospitalized family member is able to communicate on their own, we ask that you please contact them directly.
      • If you would like to speak with the care team, we ask that families of hospitalized patients please designate only ONE family member to call the hospital. This helps limit the number of phone calls and keeps our focus on providing direct patient care.
      • We ask that the designated family member kindly refrain from calling during shift change (6:30 a.m. – 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.), as this is when care teams are sharing important patient information with the incoming shift.

    COVID-19 Resources

    Community COVID-19 Resources

    Tips for Wearing Masks in the Summer (Huntington Hospital)Date Modified: 6/23/2020
    FAQs about COVID-19 (CDC) (also available in Spanish and Chinese)Date Modified: 7/3/2020
    WHO COVID-19 Updates (WHO)Date Modified: 6/29/2020
    How to Protect Yourself from COVID-19 (CDC) (also available in Spanish) Date Modified: 4/24/2020
    What To Do If You Are Sick with COVID-19 (CDC)Date Modified: 5/8/2020
    Who Is At Higher Risk for Serious Illness from COVID-19? (CDC)Date Modified: 5/14/2020
    Home Isolations Instructions for COVID-19 (LA County Department of Public Health)Date Modified: 6/1/2020
    COVID-19 and the Blood Supply: Donate Blood Today (Huntington Hospital)Date Modified: 7/1/2020

    Healthcare Provider COVID-19 Resources

    Clinician Checklist: Evaluating Patients Who May Have COVID-19 (LA County Department of Public Health)Date Modified: 3/24/2020
    Talking to Your Patients About COVID-19, and When to Call the Hospital or Public Health (Huntington Hospital)Date Modified: 3/4/2020

    Trusted Health Authorities

    Check the Following Health Authority Websites Regularly

    Pasadena Public Health Department https://www.cityofpasadena.net/public-health/

    Los Angeles County Department of Public Health http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/

    Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/

    World Health Organization (WHO) https://www.who.int/