Valuables

All valuables should be sent home to protect from loss/theft. If this is not possible, please deposit them with nursing staff. They will be kept in the hospital safe until your discharge. NOTE: access to the safe is limited to the hours of 8:00AM to 4:30PM. If you do bring valuables to the hospital, such as wedding rings and other jewelry, and you wish to wear them during your stay, please be sure that these items are included on the "admissions clothing list" that will be reviewed with you by your admitting nurse on the nursing unit. If you lose something, please notify your nurse immediately, and we will make every effort to help you find it. Unclaimed articles are turned in to the Housekeeping Department. To inquire about lost articles, call extension 237.

Upon Admission

At the time of your admission, you may receive several forms to be signed electronically. These forms give the hospital permission to provide services your doctor believes are necessary and the right to bill your insurance carrier for services rendered. Certain procedures may require additional forms to be obtained while you are a patient.

Advanced Directives

Advanced directives, in the form of a living will or durable power of attorney for health care enable patients to give instructions regarding the treatment they would prefer if seriously ill. If you have a living will or durable power of attorney for health care, please provide the institution with a copy. The document will be included with your chart. If you do not have any advance directive, and would like information on this topic, please call our Social Services Department at extension 201, and a Social Service representative will provide you with information and help answer your questions. For more information on Advanced Directives click here.

How to Call for Assistance

For your safety and convenience, there is a call button located at your bedside and a call button in your bathroom. A two-way intercom enables you to talk directly with the nurses' station. When you press the button, the nursing station is alerted that you need assistance. A staff member will respond to your signal as soon as possible.

Your Room Assignment

Room assignment is based upon your admitting diagnosis and bed availability at the time of admission.

Discrimination is Against the Law

Barnes-Kasson Hospital, Skilled Nursing Facility, and Rural Health Clinics (BKH) comply with applicable Federal civil rights laws and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex (consistent with the scope of sex discrimination described at 45 CFR § 92.101(a)(2)), or sex, including sex characteristics, including intersex traits; pregnancy or related conditions; sexual orientation; gender identity, and sex stereotypes.   BKH does not exclude people or treat them less favorably because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

            BKH:

• Provides people with disabilities reasonable modifications and free appropriate auxiliary aids and services to communicate effectively with us, such as:

           o  Qualified sign language interpreters

           o  Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats

• Provides free language assistance services to people whose primary language is not English, which may include:

          o Qualified interpreters

          o Information written in other languages.

If you need reasonable modifications, appropriate auxiliary aids and services, or language assistance services, contact the Executive Director, who is assigned the role of Civil Rights Coordinator.

If you believe that BKH has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with:

Executive Director

2872 Turnpike Street

Susquehanna, PA 18847

(570) 853-5136, ext. 224

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, the Executive Director’s office is available to help you.

You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

200 Independence Avenue, SW

Room 509F, HHH Building

Washington, D.C. 20201

1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)

Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our patients’ medical information. In compliance with state and federal law, we provide the following Notice of Privacy Practices:

CLICK HERE FOR NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

Planning Guide (Click on this link for a step by step guide)

What are Advance Directives?

A living will allows you to document your wishes concerning medical treatments at the end of life. 

Before your living will can guide medical decision-making two physicians must certify:

·         You are unable to make medical decisions,

·         You are in the medical condition specified in the state's living will law (such as "terminal illness" or "permanent unconsciousness"),

·         Other requirements also may apply, depending upon the state.

A medical power of attorney (or healthcare proxy) allows you to appoint a person you trust as your healthcare agent (or surrogate decision maker), who is authorized to make medical decisions on your behalf. 

Before a medical power of attorney goes into effect a person’s physician must conclude that they are unable to make their own medical decisions. In addition:

·         If a person regains the ability to make decisions, the agent cannot continue to act on the person's behalf.

·         Many states have additional requirements that apply only to decisions about life-sustaining medical treatments.

·         For example, before your agent can refuse a life-sustaining treatment on your behalf, a second physician may have to confirm your doctor's assessment that you are incapable of making treatment decisions.

What Else Do I Need to Know? 
 

·         Advance directives are legally valid throughout the United States. While you do not need a lawyer to fill out an advance directive, your advance directive becomes legally valid as soon as you sign them in front of the required witnesses. The laws governing advance directives vary from state to state, so it is important to complete and sign advance directives that comply with your state's law.   Also, advance directives can have different titles in different states.

·         Emergency medical technicians cannot honor living wills or medical powers of attorney. Once emergency personnel have been called, they must do what is necessary to stabilize a person for transfer to a hospital, both from accident sites and from a home or other facility. After a physician fully evaluates the person's condition and determines the underlying conditions, advance directives can be implemented.

·         One state’s advance directive does not always work in another state. Some states do honor advance directives from another state; others will honor out-of-state advance directives as long as they are similar to the state's own law; and some states do not have an answer to this question. The best solution is if you spend a significant amount of time in more than one state, you should complete the advance directives for all the states you spend a significant amount of time in.

·         Advance directives do not expire. An advance directive remains in effect until you change it. If you complete a new advance directive, it invalidates the previous one. 

·         You should review your advance directives periodically to ensure that they still reflect your wishes. If you want to change anything in an advance directive once you have completed it, you should complete a whole new document.