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We provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner for UPMC East patients 7 days week, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Meal times on each inpatient unit will vary.
We also offer after-hours meals. Just ask your nurse or another caregiver.
Based on your doctor's orders, your nurse will determine if you are able to order from our standard menu or if you require a more customized diet.
A host or hostess will visit you in your room twice daily.
If you're away from your room when we arrive to take your order or deliver your meal, we will ask your nurse to contact us when you return so we can assist you.
Your hostess will contact you in person or by phone prior to mealtime to ensure your satisfaction with your tray.
Guest trays are available to your family and friends if they wish to dine with you at the bedside.
To order, your guest should ask the host or hostess when we come to take your order. Payment for the guest tray is due upon order.
UPMC East does not require an activation fee for phone and TV services in patient rooms.
To obtain an outside telephone line:
We close the phones to incoming calls from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
If you have any problems with the phone, please call UPMC East Guest Relations at 412-357-3800.
If you have impaired hearing, we have amplified phone receivers and TDD (telecommunications devices for the deaf). Ask your nurse for assistance.
We have courtesy phones for local calls located throughout UPMC East.
At UPMC East, we strive to meet all of our patients' and visitors' special needs or physical challenges.
To meet the special needs of patients and visitors who are hearing impaired or deaf, we offer:
To obtain any of the aids listed above, ask the nursing staff on your patient unit.
Language interpreter services are available to patients and their families at no cost.
For information, contact UPMC East Guest Relations at 412-357-3800 or ask the nursing staff on your unit.
UPMC East ensures that services are accessible to, and useable by, persons with a disability.
These include people who:
Accessible features include:
If you have any concerns, please talk with your nurse or the head nurse on the nursing unit.
Visit the UPMC Disabilities Resource Center for more about our special needs services.
You can have visitors during your stay at UPMC East to provide emotional support.
You (or your representative, when appropriate) have the right — either verbally or in writing — to receive the visitors you appoint. You may also withdraw or deny consent for visitation at any time.
Visitors may include, but are not limited to:
Please talk with your nurse to arrange visiting hours that work for you, your care team, and your family.
For information about your condition by phone, designate one family member or friend to call the patient care unit. That person can then relay the information to others as you wish.
View more for visitors of UPMC East.
Please leave valuables — such as jewelry, large amounts of cash, and sentimental items — at home.
UPMC East is not responsible for lost items that you decide to keep with you during your stay.
These include:
We provide a safe in each patient room for keeping valuables.
Some items from home can greatly improve your comfort in the hospital:
If you have forgotten these, don't worry.
You're welcome to have a friend or family member deliver them to you. Or, our friendly staff will be happy to provide you complementary supplies if you need them.
For assistance, please ask your nurse or contact UPMC East Guest Relations at 412-357-3800.
UPMC East recognizes that spirituality often plays an important part in the healing of many patients.
Our meditation room and meditation garden are on the ground floor, east wing for:
In addition, our staff is happy to help you arrange for a spiritual care visit upon request.
For more information on spiritual services, please contact your nurse or UPMC East Guest Relations at 412-357-3800.
To protect the health of all patients, the staff at UPMC East wears gloves and other protective clothing for many aspects of your care.
These routine safety measures help shield patients and health care staff against many types of infections found in blood and other body fluids.
Casual contact will not spread many infections. However, contact with an infected person's body or body fluids can pose a risk if the blood or body fluid enters an opening in the skin, or makes contact with the skin that lines the eyes, nose, or mouth.
If you have any questions about infection precautions, please ask your nurse.
UPMC created Condition Help to increase the safety of patients while in the hospital.
It's a resource for UPMC East patients or family members to call:
Each UPMC hospital has a Condition Help phone number to dial. At UPMC East, dial 112 from one of our hospital phones.
Give the operator:
The operator will immediately activate Condition Help. This alerts a team of medical professionals to come to the patient's room to assess the issue.
Learn more about Condition Help or download a Condition Help Brochure (PDF).
Visit our main UPMC patient resources section to help you prepare for your stay at UPMC East.