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Room Assignments
Your room is assigned based on your admitting
diagnosis and what beds are available on the day
of your admission. There are both private and
semi-private rooms.
Calling the Nurse
A button to call the nurse is located at your bedside
and in the bathroom. When you press the button, a
light flashes above the door and the nursing station
can tell that you need assistance. A staff member will
respond as soon as possible. If someone answers your
call over the speaker, please let them know if you need
them to bring something to your room.
During the Night
Please stay in bed when you are ready for the night.
Strange places and sleeping medicines may cause a
problem if you get out of bed. For help during the
night, use your call button.
Hospital Beds
Hospital beds are electric. Your nurse will show you
how to properly work the bed, which is higher and
narrower than your bed at home. It has bedside rails
to protect you. For safety, these rails may be raised at
night or during the day if you are resting, when you
come back from surgery or if you are taking
certain medicine.
Linens
St. Joseph Hospital is working to conserve water,
natural gas and electricity. As part of this effort, your
bed linen will be changed every other day. However,
patient care and comfort remain our highest priority,
so if you wish to have your linen changed more
frequently, please tell your caregiver. In addition, if
at anytime your bedding requires a change, we will
promptly accommodate that need.
Room Temperature
All rooms in the hospital are centrally heated and
air-conditioned. If your room temperature is not
comfortable, let the nursing staff know.
Baby Chimes
You may hear brief musical notes played over the public
address system on Main Campus. Each time a baby is
born in our Childbirth Center a musical combination
of “Happy Birthday” and “Brahm’s Lullaby” is played
during visiting hours, until 8:30 p.m.
Television
Your room has a color television set with local cable
stations free of charge. Please be considerate of other
patients and play television sets softly and turn off
your set at bedtime. Channel 71 has special patient education programming.
Ask your nurse for a program schedule.
Televisions in Childbirth Center rooms receive the
Newborn Channel (educational programming for
parents). Turn to channel 17 for English or channel 18
for Spanish. VCRs and educational videotapes also are
available for Childbirth Center patients.
Telephones
Most hospital rooms have telephones. We also have TDD and telephone amplifiers for the hearing impaired.
Dial 0 to request these services.
To call anywhere in Bellingham or Whatcom County,
dial 9 and then the outside number. You do not need to
dial 1. These calls are free.
To call a number outside Whatcom County, dial 0.
The hospital operator will connect you to a long-distance
operator who will take your billing number.
If you do not wish to receive incoming calls, dial 0 and
ask that the phone be put on “do not disturb.” When you
want to take calls again, dial 0 and tell the switchboard
operator. Telephones can be removed for patient rest.
In the Intensive Care Unit, all phone calls must go
through the nursing station. Most patient phones have voice mail. Callers have
the option of leaving a message when the patient’s
line is 1) on “do not disturb,” 2) busy or 3) not
answered. A flashing light on the phone indicates you
have a message. To retrieve messages, dial ext. 6333
and follow the instructions. Note: Messages that have
been retrieved will automatically be deleted each
evening at midnight.
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