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PATIENT GUIDELINES

GENERAL

  1.  The use of mood-altering substances, except those prescribed by medical staff, is not permitted. All medications, including over-the-counter medications, are to be turned in to the nursing staff upon admission. This includes prescriptions obtained from physicians after admission. If you receive any prescription while you are out for a medical appointment, it is to be turned in to the medical staff immediately. The violation of the use of mood-altering drugs rule may be grounds for immediate discharge.
  2. No pairing off, treatment romances, or sexual contact is allowed. The only appropriate physical contact between patients, or with staff, is hugging, but ONLY IF BOTH PERSONS ARE COMFORTABLE. IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO STATE YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH ANY PHYSICAL CONTACT. (Pairing off also means spending a significant amount of time with any one person over an extended period.)
  3. Patients must attend, and be on time for, all scheduled activities (including meals).
  4. Violence and destruction of property are prohibited. Patients damaging the facility’s property will be charged for repairs and/or replacement.
  5. Patients are not permitted to leave the premises unless approved by the staff. This includes any outside meetings or appointments.
  6. Gambling is not permitted.
  7. Smoking is allowed only in a designated area at designated times. Patient rooms are not designated areas. Patients are not allowed to borrow or barter cigarettes.
  8. Patients are to clean their rooms and make their beds daily prior to 8:00 a.m. inspection. Rooms are to be neat and clean throughout the day.
  9. Stealing from the facility, the employees, other patients or visitors will result in disciplinary action that may lead to discharge and/or legal action.
  10. Medications will be supervised by the staff at designated times, which will be posted. Patients are responsible for getting and administering their medication at appointed times.
  11. Any medical absences from group should be cleared by the medical staff.
  12. Food is not to be brought in from outside. All snacks provided by the facility must be consumed in the dining or snack areas.
  13. Patients are not permitted to cross the threshold of other patient’s rooms at any time.
  14. Food is allowed only in designated areas.
  15. Patients are not to chew gum in class.
  16. No glasses or utensils removed from the dining room unless approved by staff.
  17. Patients are not to bring in books/magazines unless approved.
  18.  No personal pets allowed at the facility.
  19. IT IS YOUR RIGHT not to have your human rights, dignity, health and safety infringed upon by staff. Upon admission, you shall be given a thorough explanation of what procedures to follow if you suspect this has occurred. Immediate action will be taken in each case. Reporting such incidents will not be held against you in any way.
  20. Patients may keep up to $5.00 (including change) with them. All other money, including FI, or any other reloadable money card, is to be turned into the office.

TELEPHONE 

Patients are discouraged from making telephone calls during the first 24 hours of treatment. After the 24-hour period, the patient will be allowed a personal call every other day, as long as this does not present a therapeutic problem. Calls are limited to 10-minutes each. The patient can use the phone from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Patients may use the telephone from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Calls must not conflict with the patient’s schedule.
A phone log will be kept monitoring use of the phone. No personal phone calls are allowed while you are at outside appointments. Misuse of phone rules will result in the following consequences.

• First Offense – Loss of phone privileges for one week.
• Second Offense – Loss of phone privileges for two weeks.
• Third Offense – Patient will come before the treatment team for non-compliance and phone privileges may be revoked indefinitely.

Patients who have children will be allowed to call and check on their children by putting in a request to the primary counselor.

All business calls are to go through the case manager.

The Medical Staff handles all medical calls.

Primary counselors will handle all social services calls.

Staff can receive incoming calls for the patient. The individual calling must have the patient’s code number and have his/her name on a Release of Information Form signed by the patient.

All emergency calls are given to the primary counselor or registered nurse on duty, who determines the necessity of making a return call.

Visitors may not use the phones, except in cases of emergency.

TELEVISION/GAMES
Watching television is permitted, as long as it does not present a therapeutic problem, and as long as it is appropriate for the audience present at that time.

Television Times:
• Sunday – Thursday: 4 – 6PM, 7 – 8PM and 9 – 10PM
• Friday – Saturday: 4 – 6PM, 7 – 8PM and 9 – 11PM
• During holidays, times may vary

SMOKING
Patients may smoke, but smoking is limited. Patients having no medical concerns are allowed cigarettes daily. Pregnant women, or individuals with other respiratory concerns, will be allowed cigarettes daily, but are strongly encouraged to participate in the smoking cessation program. The building is smoke-free, but there is an outside area provided for residents’ use. Smoking is allowed only during free time.

Patients will keep up to a pack of cigarettes on their person. Patients with more than one pack of cigarettes will have the extra cigarettes stored at the Nurse’s station, and will be dispensed from 6-6:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, and 7-7:30 a.m., on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays.

Misuse of smoking privileges will result in the following consequences:
• First Offense – No smoking for 24 hours.
• Second Offense – No smoking for 48 hours.
• Third Offense – Patient will come before treatment team for non-compliance.

Note: A smoking cessation program is offered to persons served when available. Patients who have medical conditions or high-risk pregnancies will be asked to curtail or stop smoking while receiving services at the OVP Health Recovery Center.

Staff will not purchase cigarettes for patients.

UNSUPERVISED LEAVE
1. The treatment team will grant unsupervised leave on an individual basis under special circumstances (e.g., court and funerals for immediate family members).
2. The persons considered immediate family are husband, child, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister, brother, grandchild, father-in-law or mother-in-law, and brother-in-law or sister-in-law.
3. The treatment team will determine the length of any unsupervised leave.
4. Patients will be asked to undergo a urinalysis screen upon return from any unsupervised leave.

OTHER EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
1. There will be no ordering through the mail.
2. There will be no registering for “free, give-away” prizes and/or promotional schemes that require giving out the name, address, and phone number of the OVP Health Recovery Center. This is to help ensure patient confidentiality.

WAKE UP / QUIET HOURS / BEDTIME POLICIES
Wake-up: Monday – Friday 6 a.m.
Saturday – Sunday 7 a.m.

Quiet Time: Weekends/Holidays 1 – 3 p.m.
All patients in their rooms- 10 p.m. (Sunday – Thursday)
11 p.m. (Friday – Saturday)

ROOM CHECKS
A staff member will check each room each morning to ensure cleanliness. In addition, staff may check on patients throughout the night to ensure safety.

ENTERTAINMENT
Televisions are provided for the patient’s use at designated times. The volume must always be at a reasonable level. Channel selection is to be negotiated among patients. Patients can bring small clock radios. These are to be played at a reasonable volume only in the patient’s room. Failure to keep the volume at a reasonable level will result in the following consequences.
• First Offense – Warning
• Second Offense – Warning
• Third Offense – Clock radio removed for one week

Patients will receive no other warnings. The next offense will result in removal while in treatment.

CLEAN-UP
Patients are responsible for cleaning up after themselves.

VALUABLES
This facility is not responsible for a patient’s valuables unless they are delivered to staff for safekeeping. These valuables must be signed in and a receipt will be given in return. Large sums of money, jewelry, personal documents (i.e., bankcards, credit cards, and checkbooks), etc. may be secured by staff until these items can be returned home.

PERSONAL VEHICLES
Patients may not have personal vehicles on the premises.

RANDOM URINALYSIS
Staff will ask all patients to undergo urinalysis randomly. If a patient is suspected of substance use and tests positive, or a patient refuses to undergo a urinalysis screening, therapeutic action will be taken immediately.

RANDOM ROOM CHECKS/SEARCHES
OVP Health Recovery Center reserves the right to perform random checks and searches of patient rooms. All contraband (i.e., alcohol/other drugs, food, candy, etc.) discovered during random room checks becomes the property of the OVP Health Recovery Center. Patients found to have contraband in their possession will face appropriate therapeutic action as determined by staff, which may include discharge from the program.

Patients who leave the Center for appointments or emergency passes will be subject to a search of their persons, handbags, etc., upon return to the center. (Note: No shopping is allowed when a patient is away from the center at an appointment.)

DRESS CODE
Patients should dress appropriately.
1. No revealing clothes (i.e., cleavage, mid-drift, etc.).
2. Hems in shorts, dresses and skirts must be fingertip in length or longer with hand by side.
3. Tight clothing is not appropriate.
4. A long tee shirt must be worn, over bike shorts, or leggings/jeggings, to cover the buttocks
5. Shoes must be worn in all groups, in kitchen and dining areas and at all daily activities. No house shoes unless approved by the medical staff.
6. No clothing with drug or alcohol references or inappropriate writing is permitted.
7. Patients shall be fully dressed when they leave their rooms for breakfast.
8. At night, when in pajamas or nightclothes, patients must wear an appropriate covering such as a robe.
9. No hats are to be worn in the building.

PATIENT ROOMS
1. Beds are made and rooms picked up daily, prior to breakfast.

  • All beds must have bedspreads.
  • Bedspreads must cover pillows.
  • Beds should be smooth.

2. Towels and clothing must be hung up when not being used. Please do not hang items on doors and furniture.

3. Books, notebooks, pens/pencils, letters, envelopes, cigarettes, lighters, and other small items must be put away.

4. No clothing, books, personal items, paper scrap, junk, etc. on the floor.

5. Suitcases are to be stored appropriately.

6. No items should be hung on walls. A dry erase board is provided, for this purpose.

PERSONAL HYGIENE
Each patient must engage in activities of daily living such as brushing teeth, bathing, hair removal, etc. Staff will monitor such activities.

LAUNDRY FACILITIES
1. Do not overload machines.
2. Remove laundered clothes from the machines as soon as wash and dry cycles are completed.
3. Use of dye is not allowed.
4. Clean the lint trap of the dryer immediately after use.
5. Breakdown of machines is to be reported immediately to the staff.
6. Laundry detergent is available for use at any convenient time.
7. Patients may only use washer/dryer when scheduled, unless an emergency wash is needed.
8. All clothes must be completely dry before removing from laundry facilities.
9. Ironing boards and irons are provided, for patient use. All ironing is to be done in the laundry room.

EMERGENCY DRILLS
Fire/disaster drills are conducted regularly. Shortly after you arrive at OVP Health, patients are taught proper drill procedures. It is important that all patients treat drills as if they are a real emergency.

Should you spot a fire in the building, use the nearest pull -alarm to sound the alert for others. Then follow the proper drill procedures. After you exit the building, do not re-enter. DO NOT try to put the fire out.

REASONS FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS/IMMEDIATE DISCHARGE
These behaviors severely affect the safety of the community and individual recovery. Because of their serious nature, the following acts may result in immediate discharge:

  1. Use of alcohol or unauthorized drugs through positive drug screen.
  2. Possession of alcohol, drugs or paraphernalia.
  3. Physical violence toward staff or other persons served.
  4. Possession of cell phones or any device with internet access.
  5. Possession of weapons of any description (this includes single or straight razors).
  6. Sexual conduct.
  7. The usage of profane, threatening or obscene language toward staff and/or other residents.
  8. Threatening physical violence

The behaviors listed below will result in an immediate therapeutic response as decided by the treatment team, which may include a behavioral contract, consequences, or transfer/discharge.

  1. Stealing/Shoplifting
  2. Gambling
  3. Leaving without permission.
  4. Damage to property.
  5. Breaking confidentiality.
  6. Possession or misuse of medications of any description not dispensed by staff (such as storing medications in patient’s room).
  7. Pornographic materials.
  8. Excessive absences from required activities.
  9. Failure to adhere to treatment plan.
  10. Withholding information detrimental to self and/or others in the community.

MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION
The Medical Room Door will be open at the following times to dispense medication:
Morning 7:15 a.m. – 7:45 a.m.
Midday 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Evening 6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.

1. Medication not taken prior to 7:45 a.m. will be given at staff’s earliest availability.
2. Medication obtained from the pharmacy will be given at the next medication schedule or as soon as staff is available.
3. Medications administered four or more times a day will be scheduled on an individual basis.
4. Failure to arrive at the medical area at the designated times will result in disciplinary action.

This policy applies to all residents.

COMMUNITY MEETINGS
All patients are to participate in scheduled community meetings designed to encourage self-regulation as members of a therapeutic community. Any patient can, at this time, share concerns regarding the community, make requests, and settle issues. The staff elects a Community Leader who will serve for one (1) week.
The Community Leader is responsible for bringing all patient concerns to the General Community Meeting.

Duties Include:
1. Chair Resident Community Meeting.
2. Take new patients on tour of building.

CHORES
All patients participate in community chores, unless medically prohibited. Patients are responsible for cleaning their personal and eating space in addition to assigned chores such as cleaning up recreation and group areas.

STAFFING
The interdisciplinary treatment team will review all patient progress bi-weekly, or more frequently, as needed. All staff involved in a patient’s treatment, will give progress reports. The patient is also given the opportunity to give input into his/her treatment. Other agencies involved with the patient (i.e., Department of Human Services, Probation and Parole, and/or court system) are invited to participate.

If necessary, patients may be asked to meet with the treatment team to address behavioral concerns or treatment issues.

NOTIFICATION OF DISCHARGE REQUEST FORM
Once you are discharged from the OVP Health Recovery Center, your discharge summary will be available upon request.

CONTACT OVP

OVP HEALTH Recovery Center
335 Township Road 1026
South Point, OH 45680

Telephone: 740.744.4055
Fax: 740.451.0590

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