The following letter was sent to all HAHC clients and family members.
Dear Happiness at Home Health care Client,
As we all continue to monitor the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, we are sharing our COVID-19 policy for Phase 2 of this pandemic, to ensure we keep our clients and ourselves healthy and safe. This situation continues to evolve and we will continue to evolve with it.
In Phase 1, we took the following additional safety measures:
– Followed recommendations from the BC Centre for Disease Control and other official health authorities. You found us referring to their web-pages dedicated to the latest information on COVID-19 over the past weeks.
– Ensured our team understood the requirements if they become ill and are being asked to stay home and take care of themselves. Any care giver choosing not to work at this time, was taken off the schedule and will return at a later date. Care givers working primarily in residential care facilities, are not working with our home care business at this time.
– Trained our care givers on latest COVID-19 information as well as online training for donning and removing PPE (when we may have a COVID-19 client). Proper hand washing and physical distancing have become the norm.
– Acquired the recommended PPE for both healthy and potential COVID-19 clients. Note: Care givers are to wear a mask and gloves for healthy clients. For COVID-19 clients, care givers are to follow recommendations on more extensive PPE (gloves, gowns, N95 masks, face shields or goggles) and safety precautions for PPE disposal.
– Division of labour for 2 types of clients. If a care giver cares for a COVID-19 client, the care giver can then only work with other COVID-19 clients (not healthy clients). Care givers who work with healthy clients, only work with healthy clients.
– We stayed away from hospitals for new client and current client visitation.
– We kept our office disinfected on daily basis, cleaning phones, keyboards, door handles, and light switches or panels.
– Avoided business situations where groups of people convene. Avoided current client visitations unless an immediate / emergency situation.
As our clients, we asked you also help to control the spread of infection by following the recommended and usual flu and cold standards:
– Wash your hands thoroughly and avoid touching your face. Wash your hands every time you use a public washroom and avoid touching taps, counter tops, and door handles.
– Ensure your prescriptions are filled and up to date.
– In your home, ensure you disinfect your light switches and panels, door handles, and daily used items, such as your TV and electronic remotes, your computer keyboards and accessories, cell phones on a regular basis. Use disinfectant wipes which state they kill 99+% of germs and at least 70% alcohol base.
– Ensure your home is stocked with proper disinfectant cleaning supplies for our care givers to use.
– Lastly, avoid potential crowds. Make use of online services such banking and or grocery shopping and delivery if you can.
Fortunately, we followed these guidelines and recommendations, and in Phase 1, no client, caregiver, or staff became ill with COVID-19.
Now, we are entering Phase 2.
All the current recommendations as per the BC Restart Plan are in place with our business. Nothing changes dramatically for us:
– We will continue with the appropriate PPE and its availability. Our Director, Client Care will continue to distribute PPE to our care givers as required.
– All care giver protocols will be observed including physical distancing (where possible), hand washing, using hand sanitizer as required, and ensuring care giver health is a priority.
– Our office staff will continue to observe all protocols, similar to care givers above. Our Director, Client Care will begin visiting clients again as required keeping to the accepted protocols of physical distancing, wearing gloves and a mask.
– We received a general letter from Fraser Health Authority for all businesses’ operating during COVID-19. We are already following their recommendations so no changes in current procedures at this time.
We are committed to keeping everyone’s safety in mind. We will continue with our semi-monthly updates and should something change, we will keep you up to date as we have been. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call or email me or the office.
Thank you and be safe and stay healthy,
Frank Moravec, Director, Client Care
Happiness at Home Health care