Blanchfield Army Community Hospital Public Affairs
Fort Campbell, KY – On Wednesday, July 1st, 2020, the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) officials announced that the hospital is resuming some services that were deferred during the onset of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.
“After our clinics have conducted extensive COVID-19 Coronavirus risk mitigations, risk assessments and received command inspections, I have given approval for a number of BACH services to reopen,” said Col. Patrick T. Birchfield, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital commander.
“Social distancing, wearing of facial coverings, COVID-19 visitor’s policies, screening of patients are among the many safety protocols in place to help protect our patients and hospital personnel,” Birchfield stated.
In-person patient appointments have expanded in most hospital services as part of the reopening process; however, patients may continue to schedule virtual appointments if health conditions are appropriate.
Women’s Health Services
Starting July 1st, all Women’s Health obstetrics and postpartum patients will be offered appointments face-to-face. Gynecology face-to-face appointments remain limited with the priority to active duty readiness, abnormal pap smears and contraception appointments. Gynecologic surgeries continue to be limited to urgent and emergent.
“We hope to expand our gynecologic surgeries within the next two to three months, as we assess our ability to minimize the risk of infection to patients by extending our services,” said Col. Maryann Masone, chief of Women’s Health Department.
As a safety precaution, COVID-19 testing is performed for all labor and delivery admissions, scheduled inductions, and cesarean sections. In addition, other safety measures continue as the BACH COVID-19 visitor’s policy remains the same. No visitors may accompany women to their outpatient visits to the Women’s Health Clinic unless the visit is for a six-week postpartum check-up, immediate blood pressure check-up or wound check-up, then newborns are allowed to accompany moms.
Primary Care Services
Primary care services are open for routine care by appointment only. This includes immunization appointments for all age groups as well as school and sports physicals.
“We are trying to help patients get caught up on their overdue vaccinations such as B-12 injections, Depo-Provera shots, HPV vaccines and childhood immunizations by offering an appointment directly with the immunization nurse as long as there is not a secondary reason the patient should see their provider,” said Col. Troy Prairie, chief of Primary Care.
Beginning July 7th, school and sports physicals are offered by appointment only in two locations this summer, the Screaming Eagle Medical Home and Byrd Army Family Medical Home. Appointments for school and sports physicals can be made by calling the hospital’s appointment line at 270.798.4677 or 931.431.4677, Monday – Friday, 6:00am – 4:30pm.
To provide a safe environment for patients and medical teams, parents and children will need to practice the following safety protocols: only children who have physical appointments may accompany a parent to the appointment; the parent and child(ren) must wear a mask or cloth face covering; and children must be healthy with no acute symptoms or illness at the time of the appointment.
If children have additional medical concerns during the school physical appointment, parents will be asked to schedule a separate appointment for their child.
Soldier Health Services
The Soldier Health medical services to include Byrd Soldier, LaPointe and Campbell Army Airfield Medical Homes will offer new primary care hours for routine care beginning July 6th, from 9:00am – 4:00pm, Monday – Friday. Those Soldiers needing acute services as directed by their unit provider will have access starting at 8:00am Monday – Friday.
New service hours for routine care within the lab, radiology, audiology, and Soldier Readiness Processing, are 9:00am – 4:30pm, Monday – Friday. Byrd Physical Therapy hours are 7:30am – 4:00pm. LaPointe and Campbell Army Airfield Physical Therapy hours are 8:00am – 4:30pm. Pharmacy hours at Byrd and LaPointe are 8:00am – 4:00pm. Soldier Health is open for routine care by appointments only.
Specialty Services
BACH’s Inpatient Behavioral Health Ward is open as well as all behavioral health services. The Embedded Behavioral Health services which are embedded within the brigade combat teams will begin seeing their patients within the brigade footprint July 13th.
Group therapy will begin July 13 with appropriate safety measures implemented. Family Advocacy continues to be open and available to active duty service members, military retirees, and family members (adult and child) who have been identified as possible victims of domestic abuse.
The Intrepid Spirit opens for patient appointments, July 13th. The Intrepid Spirit’s sleep lab is ready to begin rescheduling patients, July 7th.
Radiology services are open to include: radiography (X-ray), a computerized tomography (CT), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Fluoroscopy, Ultra Sound, Nuclear Imaging and Mammography.
The General Surgery Clinic is currently rescheduling previously scheduled patient surgeries.
Gastroenterology is open to active duty service members and for colon cancer screenings. Limited services are currently available to family members.
Other hospital services open include: Audiology, Optometry, Ophthalmology and Refractive Eye Surgery Center, Orthopedics, Occupational and Physical Therapy and the Operating Room. Operating Room services will be increasing capacity soon to decrease the numbers on the current waiting list for surgeries.
All direct medical care services, except the Emergency Center, require patients to have an appointment. Everyone entering any BACH medical facility, including all outlying clinics, is required to be screened and wear a facial covering if not able to maintain six feet from others. Therefore, all patients and visitors should wear face coverings.
Appointments for Women’s Health and Primary Care can be made Monday – Friday, 6:00am – 4:30pm by calling 270.798.4677 or 931.431.4677. With services from TRICARE® Online Patient Portal Secure Messaging at www.TOLSecureMessaging.com, patients can schedule web visits with their primary care manager, book appointments, request and review lab and test results, email your care team a question, request medication refills, or request a referral.
To register for online services, contact your care team administrator. All specialty appointments are referral based and are given the contact number when the referral is made.
Pharmacy Services
Pharmacy services continue to require all new pharmacy medication requests to be dropped-off with patients given a designated time to pick up their medications. Pharmacy lobby waiting areas are restricted to patients whose medications are ready for pick-up. Pharmacy refill prescriptions may be picked up at the Town Center Pharmacy three working days after requests are made.
Patients requiring a new or refill prescription can call 270.798.DRUG (3784). New prescription medications are called in by the patient at 270.798.DRUG, requested through TRICAREonline.com or previously dropped off at the pharmacy. At this time, the Main Hospital Pharmacy remains closed to patients with outpatient prescriptions.
The Pharmacy team takes extra precautions when dispensing your medications to you. Pharmacy windows have plexiglass shields so patients and pharmacy personnel may interact safely. In situations where closer contact is necessary, both patients and staff will wear cloth face coverings. Patients should bring a cloth face covering when dropping off or picking up medications within BACH pharmacies to prevent the spread of bacterial and viral infections.
Outpatient visitor policy
BACH’s COVID-19 Coronavirus outpatient visitor policy does not allow visitors to accompany individuals with an outpatient appointment unless one of the following apply.
Minor child patients may have one parent, guardian or caregiver to accompany them to an outpatient appointment. Elderly patients or those with a disability requiring assistance may have one caregiver accompany them during an outpatient appointment.
Newborns are allowed to accompany moms for Women’s Health appointments for a six-week postpartum check-up, immediate blood pressure check-up or wound check-up. Inpatient visitor policy
Only one visitor may visit a patient throughout their inpatient stay at BACH. Visiting hours are limited to 10:00am – noon and 6:00pm – 8:00pm. All patients and visitors entering the facility will be screened for illness prior to entry.
Visitors are required to be 18 years of age or older and wear a face covering during the visit. Women in labor may have one visitor at least 18 years old with 24/7 access. Visitors are not allowed to accompany COVID-19 Coronavirus patients or patients under investigation for COVID-19 Coronavirus, unless the patient is under the age of 18.
COVID-19 Advice Line
The BACH COVID-19 Advice Line is available seven days a week, including weekends and holidays, to answer local military health system beneficiaries’ questions concerning COVID-19 Coronavirus.
BACH’s trained staff will evaluate, and if necessary, triage any beneficiary to the hospital’s COVID Clinic for further medical evaluation and testing for possible COVID-19 Coronavirus infection. The clinic remains open seven days a week from 6:00am to 10:00pm by appointment only.
After 6:00pm, beneficiaries can still get answers to their COVID and other health related questions through the MHS Nurse Advice Line. The MHS Nurse Advice Line is available 24/7 and may contact BACH if the nurse feels a COVID evaluation is required after hours.
For more information and updates please visit the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital Facebook Page at www.Facebook.com/BACH.FortCampbell
