We want you to feel safe and secure while at HHCC – it is your right and our primary concern. We both have a role to play in making sure your security and privacy is maintained.
Patient identification
A wristband will be placed on you when you register at the hospital. It needs to remain on your wrist for your entire stay. Your care team will check the wristband and your identity before providing care or medications.
We want you to be in control of your care, so please feel free to ask your care team to confirm your identity before providing any treatment or giving medication. They should ask you for two unique identifiers that may include your name, date of birth and/or similar information.
Medications
Please provide your care team with a complete list of all the medications you are currently taking, what the dose is and how often you take them. Be sure to include herbal, dietary supplements, vitamins or over-the-counter medications. Please let us know if you are allergic to any medications.
Each time a nurse comes to give you medication or change your intravenous (IV) medication, please feel free to ask what you are being given. We want you to be involved in your care and become familiar with the medications your doctor has ordered. If you receive medication that looks different from what you normally take, please bring this to our attention and never be afraid to ask questions.
Allergies
It is very important for your care and treatment that we know if you have any allergies to drugs/medications, food, the environment or latex (rubber). This information always needs to be included in your health record to ensure your safety.
Please do not bring latex (rubber) products such as balloons into the hospital as they can trigger severe allergies.
Infection prevention/hand-washing
Hand washing is the best way to stop the spread of germs.
Please wash your hands when you: enter the hospital building, before and after every contact with a patient, before and after eating, after using the washroom and when leaving the building. Foam hand sanitizers are located throughout the hospital to help with this.
Sometimes patients are placed on “Additional Precautions” to prevent the spread of their infection and keep patients and visitors safe. A sign indicating the extra precautions is placed on the wall outside of the patient’s room or on the curtain of their cubicle. Please ask a member of the care team for instructions before entering an area with this sign.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please
contact us.
Employee identification
All staff, physicians, students and volunteers are required to wear a photo identification badge that includes their name and a title description of their position. Don’t hesitate to ask anyone to show you theirs if you would like to confirm their identity.
Student Placements
We train and teach medical students and students in other health disciplines such as nursing and physiotherapy. If there is a student involved in your care, you will be notified and introduced to that individual. Patients always have a right to choose to refuse to have a student involved in their care, without jeopardizing their care in any way.
Safety Drills
Staff at Headwaters practice regularly scheduled emergency and fire safety procedures, so please don’t be surprised if you hear the fire alarm or various emergency codes. This is our way of ensuring we are prepared in the event of a real emergency. Should a real emergency arise, you will be advised, and trained staff will assist you. Fire exits are clearly marked throughout the hospital.
Privacy
At HHCC, we are committed to protecting the personal information you share with us. Any confidential information we collect, use or disclose in providing health care services is handled according to best privacy practices and complies with privacy legislation.
Learn more about our privacy practices.
Security
For patient safety, all emergency exit doors are locked from outside access. The emergency exit doors leading directly off the patient care units will alarm if they are opened from inside the building.
The two doors to the
Friendship Gardens on the lower level can be re-entered from 6:00AM to 11:30PM. At 11:30PM they will be locked for the evening and you will not be able to enter the hospital through these doors.
Safety and quality information system
We take every precaution possible to protect the health and safety of our patients, staff, physicians, volunteers and visitors.
In the event of an accident, incident, near miss (event that did not cause injury, illness or damage but could have the potential to do so) or injury we require mandatory reporting through an electronic incident report in our Safety and Quality Information System (SQIS).
This enables us to document, investigate and identify causes and ways to prevent future events.