St. Charles begins collecting names, phone numbers of all hospital visitors

For contact tracing, if needed, promises to protect visitors' privacy

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – St. Charles Health System announced a new policy late Friday of collecting the names and phone numbers of all visitors at its four Central Oregon hospitals, also noting that the move to meet Oregon Health Authority contact tracing guidelines could cause delays at its entrances.

“We are committed to protecting the privacy of patients and visitors,” the organization said in social media posts, “and will not use the information gathered at screenings unless it’s required for contact tracing” in cases of the COVID-19 virus.

St. Charles has had a visitor restriction policy in place since March, due to the pandemic, including screeners at hospital entrances, who it said “have been following strict protocols to keep our patients and caregivers safe and the health system functioning.”

Since mid-June, patients have been allowed to have one visitor a day, if they meet screening criteria and comply with infection control measures. Pediatric patients and those in the neonatal intensive care unit are allowed two visitors at a time, though only one may stay overnight.

More details are available at https://www.stcharleshealthcare.org/covid-19/controlled-access.

St. Charles also has provided iPads for patients to better communicate with their families during the visitor restrictions.

As of Friday morning, St. Charles had four COVID-19 patients, none of whom were in the ICU or on ventilators.