Hospital Preparedness & COVID-19 Information

Last updated: 3/27/2020

Welcome to the Huntington Hospital COVID-19 site. 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 our hospital operations.

As the tested resource for our community during previous infectious diseases such as MERS and SARS, Huntington Hospital is prepared to respond to this pathogen along with our partners at Pasadena Public Health.

LIST OF FAQs

COVID-19 INFORMATION

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

VISITOR POLICY UPDATES

SURGERY CANCELLATIONS

EVENT CANCELLATIONS

Important Phone Numbers

COVID-19 General Line (626) 397-3777

Surgery cancellations (626) 397-3166

Donations line at (626) 397-5448

COVID-19 FAQs

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

We have closed the hospital to all visitors to minimize exposure to its frontline healthcare workers, whose ongoing good health is essential to dealing with this pandemic.
Please understand that our no visitor policy during the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to support the health and safety of our caregivers.
The only exceptions to our no-visitor policy include:
- One healthy parent at a time for hospitalized 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, including out-patient surgery, GI lab, radiology, catheterization lab. Once the patient has arrived in the procedure area, the visitor must leave the hospital 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.
- 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.
Exceptions may be made for those patients receiving end-of-life care or who have extraordinary circumstances, in which case the nursing team will make the determination.
Any visitor who exhibits signs and symptoms of illness may not visit hospitalized patients.

There has been an ongoing strain on critical hospital supplies since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
We are preparing to care for those patients most at-risk by taking steps to preserve limited supplies of essential medical resources.
Crucial supplies are made in China where many plants have been closed and need at this time is substantially outpacing available resources.
We continue to work with local health and other government authorities to address supply issues.

No. There is no evidence that wearing a mask outside of a clinical setting reduces your risk of contracting COVID-19. Instead please practice “social distancing,” wash your hands thoroughly and consider canceling all non-essential outings.
There is currently a global shortage of protective equipment, including medical masks, and we strongly urge everyone to avoid putting further strain on these critical resources.
Refraining from hoarding critical medical supplies like masks directly supports the ability of healthcare professionals to safely care for sick patients during this time.

We are working with the City of Pasadena to explore alternate care site options for our community should we need more beds than we have available.
We are hopeful that the social distancing measures help flatten the curve and we can avoid a large surge of COVID-19 patients who require hospital care.
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 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.

At this time, Huntington Hospital is only 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.
Most people do not need to come to the hospital if they suspect they have COVID-19.
- 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.
The hospital should be the last line of treatment at this time, and it’s important that we all work together to prioritize those most severely and seriously in need.

Yes, and due to patient privacy laws, we cannot comment further about patient specifics.
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.

Our hospital has strict protocols in place to support infection prevention measures, following best practices and necessary precautions.
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.
For more information, please visit our Huntington Baby page.

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 delivery.
For more information, please visit our Huntington Baby page.

Learn how you can help Huntington Hospital by donating blood, making a financial gift, or donating medical supplies.

Visit our How You Can Help page here.

COVID-19 Resources

Community COVID-19 Resources

FAQs about COVID-19 (CDC) (also available in Spanish and Chinese)	Date Modified: 3/19/2020
What To Do If You Are Sick with COVID-19 (CDC)	Date Modified: 3/16/2020
Who Is At Higher Risk for Serious Illness from COVID-19? (CDC)	Date Modified: 3/18/2020
Home Care Instructions for COVID-19 (LA County Department of Public Health)	Date Modified: 3/19/2020
COVID-19 and the Blood Supply: Donate Blood Today (Huntington Hospital)	Date Modified: 3/20/2020
Protect Yourself and Your Family	Date Modified: 3/13/2020

Healthcare Provider COVID-19 Resources

Clinician Checklist: Evaluating Patients Who May Have COVID-19 (LA County Department of Public Health)	Date Modified: 3/16/2020
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/

News Articles

Valuable news articles to help you stay up-to-date.

Michigan Health shared a valuable article, “Flattening the Curve for COVID-19: What does it mean and how can you help,” explaining how important it is to slow the spread of this virus in our communities.