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Our Lady of the Lake Health Visiting Hours & Guidelines

Guidelines for Our Guests

Visits from family and friends are an important part of the healing process, and we welcome you to our campuses. 

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center Visitation Policy Update

As our ministry continues to respond to COVID-19, providing a healing and quiet environment for your safety and the safety of our team members remain our highest priority. Our Lady of the Lake will allow patients to have an essential advocate (support person) remain at the bedside at all times, throughout your hospital stay. The advocate should be the patient’s spouse or close relative who can help make healthcare decisions, if needed. The patient will identify their advocate’s name on admission. If the primary advocate cannot stay at the bedside, the patient may select an alternate advocate (spouse or close relative) to replace the primary advocate while he/she needs relief. Visiting hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If the essential advocate leaves, he/she will not be allowed back in the facility after visiting hours end at 8 p.m. He/she may return the next morning when visiting hours resume at 8 a.m. (unless an overnight admit or end-of-life situation).

  • Patients who are not COVID positive and not in an ICU setting may have other visitors, ages 12 years or older, during hospital visiting hours of 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. We encourage visitors to visit in short durations and keep groups of visitors to no more than four people at a bedside at any given time, to promote a quiet and healing environment for all patients.
  • For patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units, in addition to the essential advocate, two additional visitors (ages 12 or older) will be allowed in the room at one time (a total of three) during visitation hours of 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. Other visitors may wait in the ICU Waiting Room.
  • For patients admitted with COVID-19, one essential visitor/advocate will be allowed per day and will be allowed to visit following ICU or inpatient visiting guidelines depending on which unit the patient is admitted to.

Patient Visitation Guidelines

Visitors will need to meet certain screening criteria and adhere to guidelines in order to gain entry into the facility. This is for your safety and the safety of those providing your care.

Masks

Our Lady of the Lake Health has adjusted the masking requirement to follow the Louisiana Department of Health guidelines:

Masks are required for ALL team members, regardless of vaccination status, during any interaction with a patient. This includes but is not limited to:

Emergency Department

Patients will be allowed one essential advocate at the bedside during the duration of the emergency stay and one additional visitor (total of two).

Surgery Patients

One essential advocate will be allowed at bedside during the entire duration of the patient’s stay. Each surgical patient is allowed to have an unlimited number of visitors in the surgical waiting areas during the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Exceptions to the Visitor Policy:

Connecting Virtually

We understand and recognize how important the support of family and loved ones are to our patients while we care for them. We encourage our patients to visit virtually with their loved ones through smart phones, so they can still be connected and feel supported during their time with us. We have iPads in the hospital to help facilitate virtual communication between patients and their loved ones, who may be unable to visit at this time.

Hand Hygiene

Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital

Eight (8) total visitors are allowed during visiting hours, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Two (2) parents/caregivers will be allowed to stay 24/7 and are considered in the eight (8) approved people to enter our hospital. Children who are accompanied by an adult on the visitor list are not required to be on the list. Children less than 18 years of age are allowed to visit during visiting hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. We will limit the number of people in a room, including children, to four (4) at a time.

In the NICU and PICU, all visitors must be at least 18 years old to visit. Siblings under 18 years old will go through a separate process to be allowed to visit these 2 areas.

Every visitor, parent and caregiver must present a valid government-issued photo ID to receive a badge. The ID will run through a national database to screen for potential safety risks to our patients, including sexual offenders, criminal activity or other risk factors. Your visitor badge will be valid for the day it is issued.

Our security team is happy to provide you with an escort to or from your car. For assistance, please call Security Dispatch at (225) 374-1400.

If you are a parent/caregiver and need to leave for any reason, please notify the nursing team if you would like to appoint a caregiver in your absence so they may also receive a badge.

Your visitor badge will be valid for the day it is issued.