The administrator of the Guam Memorial Hospital has issued a statement acknowledging that a patient who was recently admitted to GMH for an unrelated illness later tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In a memo to all GMH staff Lillian Perez-Posadas wrote – “It was only when a radiological procedure was completed a few days later that the physician determined the individual may have COVID-19,” said Perez-Posadas. “As soon as we received the information, all appropriate isolation measures were instituted.”
That patient was initially placed in the Medical-Surgical Inpatient Adult Unit on the third floor. He was put in a private room with a closed door.
She said the patient was “placed in isolation immediately upon suspicion of COVID-19, and the patient remains in isolation.”
“If you haven’t already done so, please contact the employee Health Nurse and the Infection Control Nurse so that you can be processed accordingly,” wrote Perez-Posadas in her memo.
“Although we would have preferred to have the patient immediately placed in isolation,” Perez-Posadas said “if isolation is not available, a known COVID-19 patient can be placed in a private room with a closed door.”
The wing and private room where the patient was initially admitted has been sanitized, which is standard process for infection control.
Perez-Posadas went on to say that “the allegation that the newborns were put at risk for exposure is erroneous and untrue.”
“The newborns are kept in an enclosed, contained and secured area on the 2nd floor,” she said.
“The Guam Memorial Hospital takes the health, safety, and security of its patients, employees and visitors seriously,” said Perez-Posadas. “We want to assure the community that as medical professionals, we will continue to go above and beyond and provide quality healthcare to the best of our abilities to all our patients because that is what we love and what the public has entrusted us to do.”
