COVID-19 GGH Update March 20

Our community continues to reach out with offers of support. Here’s one example. It’s an email from a Foundation board member, Khalil Khamis, to Suzanne Bone and Marianne Walker.

“It has been truly amazing to watch our community come together in difficult times. While we are coming together and staying home, our Health Care Employees and First Responders are risking their lives on a daily basis to help us come out stronger on the other side… At Harvey’s and Swiss Chalet, we want to say THANK YOU to the Health Care Employees and First Responders in our community. Starting immediately, we will be offering ALL Government Health Care Employees and First Responders 50% off for themselves and their families when they visit a Guelph or Fergus Harvey’s or Swiss Chalet, for the next four weeks. We kindly ask that your show our team a piece of ID and they will be happy to serve you (via take out and drive thru of course!).”*

*Correction. Swiss Chalet Guelph’s participation in the 50% off invitation has ended but the team at all Harvey’s in Guelph and Swiss Chalet Fergus will be extending the offer for the full four weeks ending April 17. 

Main entrance congestion

Now that active screening of all patients and visitors is in place at our main entrance, staff are asked to avoid using it to enter. Instead, please use other staff-only entrances.

Staff self-screening           

A reminder that any staff member who has COVID-19 symptoms or has returned from international travel in the past 14 days is to not come to work. Instead, please contact Employee Health. Signs have been placed above each touch-in station (shown left) as an additional memory prompt. For all the GGH details about the new travel rules, click here.

Appropriate use of PPE

Up-to-date Public Health and Ministry of Labour guidelines state Droplet/Contact precautions are for routine care of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. When aerosol-generating medical procedures are planned or anticipated to be performed on these patients, the guidelines state Airborne plus Droplet/Contact precautions are required.

Droplet/Contact precautions means a procedure mask, NOT an N95 mask for routine care. Unfortunately, some staff continue to use N95s inappropriately which puts everyone else at risk because we do not have an unlimited supply. Those masks need to be available when truly needed so please, let’s do our best to conserve N95s as well as all PPE as much as possible.

Main entrance to open daily at 7 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. to support staffing the screening area