Coming to the Hospital

What To Know Before You Go To The Hospital

To find out all the information about your stay at Cornwall Community Hospital including parking, accessibility, patient rights and responsibilities, and much more, please view our patient handbook. A hardcopy of the handbook, which is yours to keep, will be made available at your bedside.

Scent

CCH is a scent safe environment for all individuals who may be sensitive to scented products. Because of the serious effects that scented products have on some of our staff, patients and volunteers we want to create an awareness of the potential hazards associated with the wearing and the use of scented products.

• All staff, volunteers, auxiliary members, and physicians should avoid wearing scented personal care products such as perfume, cologne, deodorants, aftercare lotions, hair products
• Patients and visitors should be discouraged from the use of strongly scented products in the hospital.
• All departments shall make every effort to consider scent-free products, eg. cleaning products. Where possible, scented products will be eliminated, reduced and/or replaced, with non-scented alternatives.
• Flowers sent to the hospital need to be low-scent.

Medications

• Make a list of your drug allergies.
• Pack your prescribed and herbal medications (in their original bottles) to bring to the hospital.
• Please also tell the nurse if you take other non-prescription drugs regularly (e.g. vitamins, pain medications, etc).
• When you go to the hospital:
• Show all your medications to your nurse
• Do not take your own medications unless the doctor or nurse tells you to do so

Insurance

• There are three types of rooms in the hospital. According to your insurance coverage, you may ask for a ward with 3 or 4 beds, a semi-private with two beds, or a private room. The cost of a bed in a ward room is covered by the provincial health plan.
• When you are admitted, the staff in Patient Registration will review the costs of the semi-private and private rooms. These costs may be covered, in full or in part, by extra health insurance you may have. Find out before you go to the hospital what your insurance covers.
• Make sure you bring your provincial health card and other insurance cards with you.

What to do at Home

• Tell your family and close friends that you are going to the hospital.
• Ask one family member or friend to be your main contact during your hospital stay.
• Ask someone you trust to help you with home security, mail, bills and plant or pet care while you are in the hospital.
• After your stay in the hospital, you may feel more tired. Cook meals and put them in the freezer or buy frozen meals. Place your health supplies and cooking utensils within easy reach.
• Put the telephone, your doctor's number and any other important numbers in a place that is easy to reach.
• Bring your personal telephone book and a calendar to record appointments.

What we're doing to make sure you get a bed faster

Like many healthcare providers in the province the Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) continues to focus on getting the right patient in the right bed at the right time. CCH has implemented a number of initiatives to improve their focus on improving the patient experience by improving the process to expedite a patient getting into a bed they can call their own within hospital. These six initiatives will minimize the number of empty beds and unnecessary room transfers, decrease costs and maximize patients’ healthcare time.

1. Resource Meetings 

Clinical leaders are meeting twice daily and reviewing bed information to ensure no stone is left unturned when trying to find patients a bed to call their own.

2. Early Identification of Patient Discharges 

On a regular basis staff review patients who are fit enough to be discharged as we try to always have empty beds for new patients.

3. Infection Control Cohorting of Patients

To contain infections and use beds efficiently we admit patients with the same type of isolation in the same ward room.

4. All-Gendering of Patient Rooms

Patients will be placed in rooms based on availability, illness, etc. All-gender rooms are used to minimize the number of empty beds and unnecessary room transfers, decrease costs and maximize patients’ healthcare time.

5. Discharging Patients to Chairs

The health care team works with the patient and their family to plan for their discharge home from the hospital. This planning should occur from the time the patient is admitted.

We expect that all patients should leave by 10:00. Once it is determined that the patient can be discharged, he/she will be asked to sit in a chair (should there be a need to wait for a family member or transportation) while housekeeping prepares the room for the next patient.

6. Admitting Patients to Hallway Bed Spaces on Inpatient Units Until a Room Space Becomes Available

Unfortunately, sometimes the number of patients needing a bed does not match up with the number of beds we have. CCH staff will place patients in hallways when our occupancy exceeds the number of inpatient beds available. We will work to the best of our ability to ensure each patient has a bed.

These six initiatives may not be conducted in order, as it will depend on each individual’s situation and best pathway to care.

CCH staff will work as fast as possible to find a bed for each patient. Wait times for a bed depend upon availability, the number of patients currently admitted to the hospital, and several other factors. CCH staff will be sure to keep patients informed of the process.

Patient safety and security are always in consideration when placing individuals in a room with another patient. If patients feel their safety or security is threatened, they are encouraged to speak to their healthcare provider.

If you have any questions regarding our patient flow initiatives, please contact CCH at 613-938-4240.