Southcoast Health System & Southcoast Hospitals Group eNews

St. Luke's Parking Garage opening February 23

The new parking garage at St. Luke's Hospital will open on Monday, February 23.

The garage will be used primarily for employee parking in an effort to provide patients and visitors with more convenient parking at the front of the hospital.

"We want to make it as convenient as possible for our patients and visitors to access the hospital. We would also like to alleviate the parking in the neighborhoods and we are asking that that our employees only park in the designated lots," said Linda Bodenmann, Chief Operating Officer for Southcoast Hospitals Group.

Construction on the St. Luke's Parking Garage began in Spring 2008. Located on Taber Street, the 31,000-square-foot garage has 400 spaces. There are an additional five parking lots surrounding the hospital for employees and physicians to park.

Patient and visitor parking is located directly across from the main entrance of the hospital in Lots A and B. There is designated parking for Emergency Department patients in a lot adjacent to the ER entrance. There are also designated parking spaces for blood donors and patrons of the retail pharmacy off the ER driveway.

The parking lots outside the MRI entrance and Surgery Center entrance continue to be for patients accessing those services.

www.southcoast.org/news/

Code Assist: When Your Loved One Needs Help Stat

There's a new way for family members to take a more active role in the care of their loved ones at Southcoast Hospitals.

Friends and family can call a Code Assist (Code A) for immediate help when a patient has a serious change in medical condition.

To call a Code A, dial "HELP" (4357) from any hospital telephone. You will be asked for the patient's room number, your concern, the patient's name and your name. Signs will be posted in all patient rooms and inpatient areas, giving directions on how and when to call a Code A.

Family members should call a Code A when they notice a serious medical change in the patient. Examples include difficulty breathing, seizures or sudden confusion.

Calling a Code A mobilizes one of the hospital's Rapid Response Teams. This is a team of multidisciplinary specialists. They quickly gather at a patient's bedside to assess your loved one's condition and decide the best way to proceed.

"In terms of patient quality of care and safety, the advantage of having this team is early response," said Donna Teixeira, RN, Nurse Manager of the Intensive Care Unit & Critical Care Unit at Charlton Memorial Hospital. This early intervention can prevent a condition from becoming worse, Teixeira explained.

"Code A will add another layer of safety for patients by extending direct access to this team to the patient and family," Teixeira said. "This demonstrates our commitment to patient safety as it assures any patient situation that is concerning will receive immediate attention."