NEENAH, Wis. (NBC26) -- From day one, health officials have encouraged people to stay socially distanced.
At ThedaCare hospitals, those recommendations were requirements. Patients had to be in the hospital, sometimes in their final days, without family or friends.
"People have passed away in the hospital without anyone that is close to them physically near," ThedaCare Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jennifer Frank said. "That is very challenging to experience. It's challenging to watch. It feels very wrong."
ThedaCare leaders say it was hard for them, patients and their families.
"No one is happy with the level of restrictions," Frank said. "So we've been really kind of waiting to see when we can do that [open to visitors]."
But the health system says it had good intentions waiting to bring back visitors.
"When we went home at night, did we feel good about what we were doing?" Frank asked. "Did we feel that we had taken good care of our patients and our team members? And that's really our standard that we go by."
And now, leaders say the time is right.
On Thursday, the health system announced it will allow visitors in its hospitals for the first time in a year ThedaCare is permitting one guest per patient. Frank says some patients lacked the guidance they needed from their loved ones.
"We definitely want to involve the patient's family and friends in their care," she said. "So this is a great thing for us as well."
With the presence of a vaccine and bettering Coronavirus numbers in Northeast Wisconsin, Frank says she is confident the new plan will succeed.
"We don't do things when we think it might work," she said. "We do things when we're very confident that it is going to be appropriate."
