Signs advise people arriving at the hospital not to enter the parking lot unless they are seeking medical services.

Good Shepherd Health Care System in Hermiston has made several changes to its operations in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

It has followed Governor Kate Brown’s order to temporarily stop all surgeries for non-life-threatening and non-urgent procedures, in order to preserve stocks of personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks and surgical gowns.

CEO Dennis Burke told the East Oregonian that hospitals have been told to prepare all of their capacity for critical patients that could be coming in during the outbreak. For the moment, that actually means fewer people than normal are coming and going from their campus.

“We’re preparing for the ‘what if’, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Burke said.

Communications director Caitlin Cozad said in an email Friday night that Good Shepherd is “judiciously monitoring” their personal protective equipment in light of the national shortage.

“We have plenty of some supplies, while others are getting low, but not critically low,” she wrote, adding that they could draw on the state’s emergency stockpile if needed.

In addition to protective equipment, one of the concerns of a COVID-19 outbreak is that a wave of critically ill patients will overwhelm resources such as ventilators, as has happened in epicenters such as China and Italy. Burke said the hospital currently has nine respiratory therapists and 15 ventilators, but could end up getting more from other hospitals in the state if Hermiston became a major hot spot for the virus, or, by the same token, Hermiston could lend its equipment if things got bad in another part of the state.

The Oregon Health Authority is gathering information on what resources hospitals across the state have on hand to be ready to mobilize those resources depending on how the outbreak spreads.

In addition to canceling some procedures and appointments, the hospital has also changed its visiting policies to reduce potential exposures.

No visitors are allowed other than one parent accompanying a minor child in need of care, one care partner for the duration of a mother’s stay at the Family Birth Center, one care partner for patients requiring one for “self management” or to make medical decisions on their behalf, and no more than two visitors in a 12 hour period for patients receiving end of life care where a physician has determined death is “imminent.” Visitors in all of those situations must be over 18 and free from fever or other flu and cold-like symptoms.

Patient access to the hospital and clinics is limited to specific doors, with all doors other than the emergency room entrance locked between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. All patients and vendors are directed to enter the campus through the Elm Street entrance and will be screened briefly for symptoms, including having their temperature taken.

Cozad said if a patient “meets criteria” they are tested for COVID-19, with specimens sent to their contracted laboratory or the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory. She didn’t specify how many tests had been conducted so far, but said it takes three to five days for results to return.

She said the hospital supports the efforts of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems to urge the governor to take stronger social distancing measures.