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Here to Safely Care for You

Last updated: 4/13/2021

Together, we can keep our community healthy during the pandemic. If you’ve been putting off needed healthcare, don’t delay any longer. We are here to safely care for you.

While the vaccine brings us hope for the future, and we are encouraged by the drop in COVID-19 positive hospitalizations, we know the pandemic is far from over. We are proud to be here for our community. Please consider this page a resource for you and your family on safe care and hospital operations.

Important Phone Numbers

Hospitalized COVID-19 Positive Patients

This dashboard is updated on a weekly basis, every Tuesday.

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.

    Patient Stories

    Teo

    When Teo Praslin started running a fever in April 2020, he promptly got tested for COVID-19. Two of his co-workers had been diagnosed with the virus, already, so he knew he was at risk. Though Teo tested positive, he was initially well enough to return home, where he quarantined in a separate area of the […]
    READ MORE

    View all patient stories 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.
    • If you have been putting off needed healthcare, don’t delay any longer. We’re here with safe hospital and outpatient services. We employ rigorous screening efforts in advance of your visit and COVID-19 testing for every patient.
    • We are thrilled to welcome back visitors! We have reopened visitation in a limited capacity. Learn more on our Visitors page.
    • While we are encouraged by the lower infection numbers, we urge the public to remember that we are still in the pandemic. Please follow health orders to keep our community healthy. Learn more about how Huntington Hospital is managing the challenges of the pandemic.
    • We strongly advise you to continue masking, hand washing social distancing and following updated instructions from officials as they become available.
    • 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.

    • Yes, we are thrilled to be supporting vaccination for eligible individuals via an invitation-only system at the direction of Pasadena Public Health Department.
    • While we are supporting our city’s Public Health efforts, we cannot offer vaccination appointments directly to the public.
    • Please do not contact the hospital seeking a vaccination, but instead inquire through your primary care provider (public health is providing vaccine directly to providers who are registered to receive it) or explore our Vaccine page to find the most up-to-date resources for vaccination options.
    • Learn more on our COVID-19 vaccine page.
    • We will share information and resources as they become available.

    Monoclonal antibodies, which are designed to mimic the body’s natural immune system response, are an outpatient therapy developed to treat viral infections including COVID-19. Monoclonal antibody treatments, or infusions, are a new treatment for outpatients with COVID-19 who are at risk of progression to severe disease.

    We are not currently offering monoclonal antibody treatment to the community. We encourage you to contact your primary care provider if you believe you are a candidate for this treatment.

    We recommend reviewing the following monoclonal antibody resources.

    Can I donate convalescent plasma (antibodies) at Huntington Hospital?

    • No, at this time we cannot accept convalescent plasma donations.
    • If you are interested in donating convalescent plasma, please visit the Red Cross website to sign up and learn more.
    • If you test positive for antibodies, please consider donating plasma to the Red Cross. Antibody plasma can help treat the most severe COVID-19 cases.
    • Please download this informational PDF on COVID-19 convalescent plasma.

    Is Huntington Hospital offering Antibody Testing?

    • Huntington Hospital does not offer antibody testing to the general public.
    • Our partner, Exer Urgent Care, provides antibody testing. Please call the number on the Exer site to make an appointment. Also check with your physician.
    • We have a surge plan that we utilize as needed. This plan ensures all beds at the hospital are available to care for the sickest patients. 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.  
    • During this unprecedented health crisis, we are able to utilize the following resources to provide care to everyone who needs it. This includes:
      • We have licensed physicians to call upon should we need them.
      • We’ve had to create double occupancy rooms in some areas of our hospital to help speed up access to beds for patients waiting for care. Since private rooms might not be available during this COVID-19 surge, we ask for your understanding as our healthcare teams make every effort to ensure we have the capacity to care for our community.
      • When necessary we erect tents for patients with non-life-threatening conditions.
      • We can increased our staffing and procure additional equipment.
    • Like all hospitals in our area, and as the largest Level II trauma center in the San Gabriel Valley, we continuously assess our ICU and overall capacity to provide care when it’s needed most. We reconfigure and reimagine our facility daily to meet patient needs as outlined in our surge plan.

    • Yes, we are performing elective surgeries and procedures using enhanced safety protocols. If you’ve been delaying an elective surgery or procedure, don’t delay any longer.
    • Learn more on our Surgical Services webpage.  

    • At this time we are testing every patient in the hospital.
    • 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.

    We are thrilled to welcome back visitors.

    Based on our risk-scoring matrix, which considers community and hospital infection rates and more, we have reopened in-person visitation in a limited capacity. 

    You can find our full visitor policy on our Visitors page.

    • 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.
    • 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. 
      • We test every patient in the hospital for COVID-19. This includes 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. 
      • Limiting visitors to the campus and the ongoing suspension of our volunteer program, based on risk-scoring matrix.
      • Suspension or limitation of non-essential services. 
      • Staff and physician training and education. 
    • 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.
    • 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.

    COVID-19 Resources

    Community COVID-19 Resources

    FAQs about COVID-19 (CDC) (also available in Spanish and Chinese)
    WHO COVID-19 Updates (WHO)
    How to Protect Yourself from COVID-19 (CDC) (also available in Spanish)
    What To Do If You Are Sick with COVID-19 (CDC)
    Who Is At Higher Risk for Serious Illness from COVID-19? (CDC)
    Home Isolation Instructions for COVID-19 (LA County Department of Public Health)
    COVID-19 and the Blood Supply: Donate Blood Today (Huntington Hospital)
    Emotional Well-Being and Coping During COVID-19 (UC San Francisco)

    Healthcare Provider COVID-19 Resources

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

    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/

    Grief & Bereavement Support During COVID-19

    Huntington Hospital Resources

    Other Organizations’ Support Services

    COVID-19 VACCINE: We are providing limited community vaccination in partnership with Pasadena Public Health. Please do not call, we cannot schedule vaccine appointments. Find resources for vaccination here.   >> VACCINE INFO
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