April 6, 2020
These are certainly challenging and uncertain times we find ourselves in as we all adjust to new ways of providing health care and ensuring the safety of our patients and our employees on the front lines.
We have made some specific changes at University Medical Center and have been hard at work to make these transitions as smooth as possible for our patients. Here’s a quick update on how we are adapting to these new circumstances to better and safely meet the health-care needs of our patients.
All UMC locations (Tuscaloosa, Northport, Demopolis) remain open and are continuing to see existing patients – and we are accepting new patients. If you have questions or concerns about COVID-19 and health new issues you might be experiencing, or if you need to schedule an appointment for your regular care and health screenings, please contact your UMC location.
We have adjusted our patient procedures with the goal of keeping our patients and our employees safe. Among the new procedures: front-door check-in, screening of patients for COVID-19 symptoms, and telemedicine screenings and triage for patients with respiratory symptoms.
To be more accessible to our patients, we have increased our offering of telemedicine visits, and we have transitioned our cancelled evening clinic hours to evening telemedicine hours, Mondays through Thursdays from 5:30 pm to 7 pm.
We continue to explore new and innovative ways to serve our patients during this time. We have launched telepsychology services for first responders. We are working to keep our patients and the West Alabama community informed with the most up-to-date and relevant information about ways to stay healthy during this COVID-19 outbreak. We have daily media interviews that can be found on the UMC website, and we are planning to launch this week live UMC Town Halls with our physicians to provide updates and answer questions submitted by community members. And, we are working across The University of Alabama campus and taking advantage of UA’s vast resources to create personal protective equipment for UMC and for DCH Regional Health System.
With our knowledge and resiliency, University Medical Center will be here for our patients as, together, we navigate these uncertain times.
University Medical Center is operated by the College of Community Health Sciences.
