Throughout our COVID-19 pandemic response, UCHealth has continued to perform medically necessary surgeries and procedures for patients when a delay might cause harm to a patient. All hospitals and emergency rooms are open. Patients who have serious health issues should not delay seeking care. UCHealth has taken extraordinary precautions to ensure patients are safe during this time.

UCHealth is resuming a limited number of procedures and medically necessary surgeries at UCHealth hospitals and facilities. This has been done with advice from experts who care for patients with complex health needs and in infection prevention and control.

The safety of our patients and staff is our No. 1 priority. Patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19 are cared for in separate areas of our facilities.

We are requiring all patients and visitors to wear their own personal masks into our health care facilities, to protect you, your family and our staff during your visit. Any type of surgical or cloth mask from home is fine.

If you have a fever, a cold, flu symptoms, or if you think you have been exposed to COVID-19, call your clinic’s office before your appointment. Please notify staff as you enter the facility.

UCHealth continues to monitor availability of equipment and supplies daily.  Three days prior to scheduled surgeries, UCHealth will ensure we have adequate supplies, beds and staff for patient safety. Patients will then be notified about whether their surgery has been approved. At that time, depending on the surgery or procedure, some patients will be directed to a location where they can be tested for COVID-19. The test needs to be completed 48-72 hours prior to surgery.

Our staff and providers will wear masks and other PPE when they care for patients. This is to help keep you safe. All surgical areas and patient rooms are sanitized and disinfected with virus-killing cleaning products.

Patients who need time to recover in the hospital will be placed in private rooms. To provide additional protection for patients, medical providers will use remote monitoring technology to watch over patients’ heart and respiration rates along with other vital signs – a practice that has been in place before the global pandemic. This technology helps reduce the number of times a caregiver comes in close contact with each patient.

UCHealth hospitals are safe and designed with negative air pressure spaces, where caregivers isolate and treat people who are concerned that they might have COVID-19 or other infectious illnesses. Our providers are accustomed to caring for the sick, while keeping healthy people well. Please do not hesitate to get the care you need.

• Our emergency departments and hospitals are far less busy than normal. Patients coming to our emergency departments will be seen immediately, and waiting rooms are usually empty.
• Hospitals have empty rooms available for patients who need them, and we generally keep COVID-19 patients in separate, dedicated units.
• Our visitor restrictions remain in place, and we are following physical distancing guidelines as additional measures to keep patients and staff safe.