Current status: Please do not visit patients if you are sick or have a known exposure to a respiratory illness.
To discourage the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, we update our visitor guidelines as needed to help keep patients, staff and you safe. Check back often for the most current guidelines.
Starting December 26, 2022, our visitor process has changed. Review the most current visitor information here.
General guidelines for all visitors or support persons
- All visitors and support persons need to check in with registration and get a visitor sticker.
- Do not visit patients if you are sick or have a known exposure to a respiratory illness.
- Visitors and support persons must follow all visitor protocols while in the facility. If the visitor refuses to comply, they shall be asked to leave. This includes all of the following:
- May be directed to wear additional personal protective equipment. Must wear PPE as directed by staff.
- Must use hand hygiene frequently, and upon request by staff.
- Must maintain physical distancing requirements (six feet apart and 50% capacity for waiting rooms) while in the facility and must limit the time spent outside of the patient room.
- Must wear a visitor badge sticker at all times while in the facility. If visitors go outside of the building, for any reason or length of time, they must present their screening sticker upon re-entrance.
For family and friends
It is difficult when a loved one, a family member or a friend is in the hospital and you are not able to visit them. During these difficult times, the support you can provide will look different, but this is important to help keep everyone safe.
Tips for staying connected with a family member or friend when they are in the hospital:
Take advantage of virtual communication tools as explained in How to Contact a Patient in the Hospital.
- How to contact a patient in the hospital: Hmong.
- How to contact a patient in the hospital: Russian.
- How to contact a patient in the hospital: Somali.
- How to contact a patient in the hospital: Spanish.
Other tips
- Designate a family spokesperson to serve as the link between the person in the hospital; healthcare providers; and family, friends and loved ones.
- Ask if the family spokesperson can call the hospital each day for an update to pass along. Ask the hospital what time would be best for a daily phone call.
- Leave the family spokesperson's phone number with the hospital staff in the event your family member or friend has a change in condition.
- Consider using internet-based social media applications like CaringBridge or Facebook to provide timely updates to others.
Allina Health's patient video conferencing service, Care to Connect, allows you to connect remotely with your family member or friend via video if they don’t have or are unable to use their own internet-enabled device.