COVID-19 Update - Oct. 23, 2020

Veterans who have symptoms of COVID-19 such as a fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing that’s new or getting worse, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of smell or taste, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, current runny nose or nasal congestion or have had contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, should contact VA Puget Sound before coming to one of our care sites for a scheduled visit. This can be done by sending a secure message through My HealtheVet or by calling 1-800-329-8387. This helps VA Puget Sound protect our Veterans, medical staff, and other patients.

All Health Care Sites

We continue our phased approach to safely and responsibly resume services that have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with federal and state guidelines, our risk-based framework prioritizes patient health needs, staff safety and resource considerations to guide our expansion, scheduling decisions and timeline.

The first phase impacts VA Puget Sound’s American Lake and Seattle campuses as well at its VA-operated Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Mount Vernon, Port Angeles and Silverdale. It includes restarting prioritized medical and surgical care, on top of the emergent, urgent and telehealth (primary and some specialty) care we’ve continued to provide throughout the pandemic. Subsequent phases would further expand total patients and services.

We will proactively contact Veterans to make appointments, so our policy of no walk-in patients outside of emergent care needs remains in place. If you have health care concerns, please first call us at 1-800-329-8387 or reach out to your primary care team.

Patient and staff safety remain paramount, so should challenges arise that impact our coordinated, phased restart at any point, we can dial back services to protect and provide the highest standards of care. And our rigorous safety measures remain in place:

• Inpatient Visits:
• Exceptions must be coordinated with your care team in advance
• Visits 30 minutes or less unless care team believes a longer visit is in the best interest of the patient.
• Outpatient Visits:
• Patients can bring one person as an escort if they are needed to navigate the care syste
• Approved Visitors:
  • Must be approved by care team in advance of visit.
  • Must be at least 18-years-old.
  • Must adhere to all safety measures.
  • Must use hand gel when entering and exiting a care area.
  • Are not allowed in the room during aerosol-generating procedures.
• No visitors under 18 allowed, with one exception: American Lake’s Child Care Center.
• Do not leave unaccompanied minors outside during your visit.
• 100% environmental cleaning recommendations as outlined by the CDC.

 Facility-Specific Information

• Fu shot options: Oct. 21-30, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.—4 p.m. (then once a week)

  • Seattle Campus: Walk-up Tent (outside Main Entrance) & Drive Thru in patient parking garage (enter at the lower level B2 garage entrance)

  • American Lake Campus: Drive-thru

• For CBOCs and for Community Care options (Visit www.va.gov/find-locations/) or call VA Flu Hotline 1 -800-329-8387.

Maximizing Personalize Virtual Care Options

We continue to maximize personalized virtual care options. We know these services have been a valuable link to our Veterans during this challenging time, providing increased access to care regardless of where you live. Here are some examples of ways you can access care from home:

• Telephone or Video Appointments: Receive care at home—either over the phone or via video using VA Video Connect on your computers, smartphones or tablets. To set up virtual appointments, send your health care team a secure message on My HealtheVet by visiting myhealth.va.gov. While Veterans may also call us at 1-800-329-8387, VA is requesting that Veterans only call with urgent needs at this time. To learn more about VA Video Connect, visit mobile.va.gov/app/va-video-connect.
• Prescription Refills: Veterans can request prescription refills, order and ship medications home using My HealtheVet or Rx Refill mobile app. Download the app at mobile.va.gov/app/rx-refill.
• Secure Messaging: With a free My HealtheVet Premium account, Veterans can send secure messages to their health care team online to ask non-urgent health questions, request referrals and send updates about medical conditions. Other tools and services available to Veterans with the Premium account include, ability to access health records, view military service information and ability to join video visits using the VA Appointments tools. There are two ways to register, online or in-person at a VA facility. With the threat of COVID-19, the in-person option has been suspended.

To upgrade online using a VA HealtheVet sign-in partner (DS Logon and ID.me), follow these steps:

• From the My HealtheVet sign in page, sign in to your Advanced My HealtheVet account using a sign-in partner
• Select the Upgrade Now button.
• Check the certification box to verify account owner
• Select Continue
• Check the Accept My HealtheVet Terms & Conditions box
• Select Continue to complete the upgrade

For more information about COVID-19 visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

You can also get updates on social media: https://www.facebook.com/vapugetsound and https://twitter.com/VAPugetSound. If you would like to receive automated updates via email, please sign up with your email address on our website - https://www.pugetsound.va.gov/index.asp - look under the social media icons on right for "Subscribe to Receive Email Updates."