Room Service and Cafeteria
Soon after your admission to the hospital, your physician will prescribe a specific diet to meet your needs. Use the menu in your room to order meals. To place your order, dial 865-835-4100 and your order will be verified for diet compliance and prepared according to your wishes. You may pre-order up to three meals in advance. Please order only the foods you plan to eat, so accurate calorie counts may be taken.
Guest meals are available for $5 per tray, with payment required upon delivery.
Family and friends are invited to eat in our cafeteria. Hours are:
- Breakfast: 7 to 9:30 a.m. Monday through Friday (Closed on weekends.)
- Lunch: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Sunday
- Dinner: 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Sunday
- Late-Night: Midnight to 2 a.m. Monday through Sunday
The hospital also has vending areas on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th floors near the Patient Tower Elevators.
Medicines from Home
To ensure your safety our pharmacists carefully review and dispense all medications while you are in the hospital. If you are currently taking any medications you brought from home, it is very important to tell your nurse. You may be asked to send these medications home. All medications taken in the hospital must be administered by your nurse or physician.
Nurse Call System
When you need nursing assistance, just press the nurse call button. The unit secretary will answer the call and relay your request to your nurse.
Television
Each room has a remote-control television for your convenience.
Valuables
The best place for your jewelry, cash, credit cards and other valuables is at home. If you brought any of these items with you, please deposit them in our vault for safe keeping. Your nurse will help you with this process. The medical center cannot be responsible for loss or damage of personal possessions left in your room.
Reading Material
Volunteers will loan books and magazines at your request. Please call Volunteer Services at 865-835-4170 or ask your nurse for this service.
Electrical Appliances
Electrical devices that are defective or misused may injure patients, visitors and staff. We ask that you leave your personal appliances at home.
Smoking/Tobacco-Usage
Methodist Medical Center is dedicated to providing a clean, safe environment for our patients, visitors and staff. To promote health and wellness, Methodist Medical Center is a tobacco-free environment, both inside buildings and on the grounds. Patients who use tobacco products will be offered smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine patches and gum, if needed during their hospital stay. Please ask your doctor or nurse for more information.
Visiting Hours
COVID-19 ADVISORY: Visitation guidelines are subject to change due to COVID-19. Please refer to https://www.covenanthealth.com/current-visitation-policy/ for latest information and updates.
General – 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Maternity – Visiting hours for the Family Birthing Center are flexible and at the discretion of the mother.
Critical Care Units (Intensive Care, Coronary Care and Cardiovascular Surgical)
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
8 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
Only immediate family members may visit, although friends may substitute in the absence of family. Visitation is limited to two people for 30 minutes at a time.
Lodging Assistance
The Hospitality Houses of Methodist Medical Center provide temporary lodging for patients and families who travel to Oak Ridge for extended medical treatment. Our mission is to help relieve the financial burden associated with such housing, thereby enabling our guests to focus on physical and emotional healing.
The houses primarily serve patients of Thompson Cancer Survival Center at Methodist, Thompson Oncology Group and their caregivers. Other patients of Methodist Medical Center and their families may stay at the houses when space is available. In most cases, guests must live 30 or more miles from Oak Ridge and must be referred by staff at the cancer center, the medical center or a physician’s office.
For information and room availability, please call the Hospitality Houses at 865-835-4358 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. For after hours assistance, call 865-835-1000.
Telephones
- Local calls: Dial 9, then dial the local phone number.
- Long-distance calls: Dial 9, then 0 and the number. Long-distance calls cannot be charged to your room, but you may make collect calls or charge calls to a third number or credit card.
- Incoming calls: People outside the medical center may call your room directly by dialing 865-835-1, then your room number. Incoming calls will not be directed to patient rooms between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., although patients may continue to call out during those hours.
- Inside the medical center: Dial the appropriate 835-prefix number.
Chapel and Clergy
The medical center’s chapel, located in the main lobby, is open 24 hours a day. Our chaplain is available to assist you and your family and may be reached by calling 865-835-5233 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. You may also have the chaplain paged through the hospital operator at 865-835-1000. If you need pastoral care after hours, please contact your nurse or a nurse supervisor.
Deliveries and Mail
Mail, flowers and other items are delivered daily and should be addressed as follows: Patient’s first and last name, Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, 990 Oak Ridge Turnpike, P.O. Box 2529, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-2529. Ask a volunteer to post your outgoing mail. Stamps are available in the hospital gift shop.
Gift Shop
The Pink Placebo Gift Shop in the main lobby is open at the following times:
•Monday through Friday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
•Closed Saturday and Sunday
Volunteers staff our gift shop and will deliver items to your room. Call 865-835-5264 for assistance. All proceeds from the gift shop go toward scholarships and needed resources for the hospital. Some personal items are available by calling 865-835-4170. Many of these items also are sold in the gift shop.
Methodist Medical Group – Primary Care Admissions
Your family (or primary care) doctor may have referred you to the hospital for care by Methodist Medical Group (MMG) physicians. These professionals will follow your care from admission to discharge. They go to great lengths to assure your family doctor is fully informed of every aspect of your care.
When you leave the hospital, MMG physicians will send your doctor a complete summary of your illness and treatment, including test results and medications. This summary is often in your doctor’s office before you even get home. So your doctor can provide any follow-up care needed.
Resolve Through Sharing Bereavement Care
Resolve Through Sharing helps individuals families facing the loss of a baby during pregnancy or shortly after birth. Someone once said, “Grief shared is grief diminished; you are now beginning a journey.” Grief is a normal, healthy response to a devastating loss, and the journey is a lifelong experience.
The RTS counselor can help you create memories and find ways to express your grief. Most of all, he or she listens and gives you permission to grieve. There is no correct way to grieve – each person’s experience is individual.
For counseling or information, please call Methodist Medical Center’s RTS Bereavement Services, 865-835-2268. If there’s no answer, leave a message and someone will return your call.