Visitors • General Information

If you are planning to visit a patient at Northwest Community Hospital, please take a moment to read through these guidelines.

Respect for Patients

Please be sensitive to the needs of other patients and their families by:

• Speaking softly
• Showing consideration to all
• Respecting the privacy of others
• Monitoring the behavior of children

Visiting hours for most of the Hospital: Noon-8 pm

Consideration, however, is given to patient needs:

• If you are a primary support person for a patient at the Hospital, you may make arrangements to visit at any time
• Children are allowed to make short visits if an adult accompanies them
• If you have special needs regarding visiting hours, please speak with a member of the nursing staff
• Call 847.618.1000 to reach a specific department

Other department/unit policies may vary. Click on the items below or call the department and speak to the nursing staff.

• Maternity Visiting Hours
• Children’s Visiting Hours
• For Mental Health Visiting Hours, call 847.618.4100
• For Critical Care Visiting Hours, call 847.618.7301

Guest Wireless Network

Free wireless Internet access for guests and visitors is available in most areas throughout the Hospital. Click here to familiarize yourself with connection requirements, the network’s security settings and proper usage.

Smoking Policy

Smoking is not permitted in all buildings, parking garages, surrounding grounds and vehicles on Northwest Community property. Thank you in advance for helping to provide a healthy and healing environment for patients, visitors, employees, physicians and volunteers.

Cellular Phone Policy

Cellular phones may be used at NCH with the following exceptions (see below). In these cases, your cell phone must be in the OFF position. Even if you’re not using it, this is the only way to prevent it from sending a signal that could disrupt medical equipment.

Your cell phone must be OFF:

• Within three feet of medical equipment in all patient care areas including IV-medication pumps, heart monitors, ventilators, telemetry antennas and lab analyzers
• In highly medically instrumented areas such as:
  • Critical Care Patient rooms that have multiple pieces of medical equipment in use for patient care
• Operating rooms – Main OR and DSC
• Procedure rooms – i.e. GI Lab, Special Procedures
• Cath Labs
• NICU
• Central Telemetry Room on 3 South

Walkie-talkies can also cause disruptions and should not be used within 10 feet of medical equipment or in highly medically instrumented areas.