Our values, vision, and mission together with your well-being and the well-being of people who use our services continue to be our top priority during the current pandemic.
This week, look for the following updates:
STAY AT HOME ORDER
On April 7th, 2021 Premier Doug Ford announced a stay at home order for Ontario in order to combat the third wave of COVID-19 that is currently enveloping Ontario and threatening to overwhelm our health care system. The stay at home order began at 12:01 am on April 8th and will be in place over the next four weeks. In response to this the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services moved all of Ontario into enhanced precautions. How this impacts day to day activities can be found here:
- COVID-19 Weekly Preparedness Checklist
- The COVID-19 Weekly Preparedness Checklist has been updated for the week of April 15th to April 21st.
- The Hand Sanitizer Recall List (on the U:\\ drive) was updated (Apr. 7th, 2021), please confirm the removal of recalled sanitizers from all locations.
Christian Horizons has been working closely with a number of local public health infection prevention and control (IPAC) teams to review our guidance documents. The reviews have lead to a change in our wording around the use of gloves during an outbreak. It has been recommended by the IPAC teams that gloves are to only be worn during an outbreak when in direct contact with someone who uses our services, when cleaning, or handling potentially contaminated items ex. laundry. This is to help protect the skin, prevent breakdowns and encourage frequent and proper hand hygiene with alcohol based hand rubs or soap and water. The following documents have been updated to reflect this change:
- Personal Protective Equipment Frequently Asked Questions
- Updated to reflect resources and public health guidance about glove use during outbreaks
- COVID-19 Response Checklist
- Employee COVID-19 Response Checklist
- Quarantine Zone PPE Caution Poster
- Person Supported COVID-19 Exposure Guide
COVID-19 VACCINE WEBINARS
This week there will be a webinar on Friday April 16th at 2pm register here, the following will be covered:
- Updates on the available vaccines within Canada
- Variants of Concern
- Is there any evidence that vaccines are working?
- District specific breakout sessions will take place in order to discuss any local developments since our last webinar.
COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATE
We continue to see more public health units with plans for vaccine access for direct support professionals, people who use services and essential caregivers. A consistent for this roll out across both provinces is the need to move quickly once our communities have access. Christian Horizons continues to work provincially to advocate for vaccine access in those public health units that may be lagging behind.
MASKS
Over the past couple of weeks concerns have been raised nationally regarding counterfeit N-95 masks and the use of graphene in commercially available medical masks. Christian Horizons PPE Taskforce has contacted our distributor for N-95 masks and we have been assured that the counterfeit concerns do not apply to our available supply of masks. Similarly, all of our major suppliers of commercial masks across the organization have been contacted by our PPE representatives. They assure us that it is unlikely that their masks contain graphene. Importantly if graphene is a component of a mask, it should be identified on the box. We continue to work on this issue, but we also encourage employees to check masks at the location at which they work. If a box of masks labelled as containing graphene is found, please set aside the masks (identified as “do not use”) and notify the supervisor.
Thank you for your continued work and dedication, your commitment and tenacity to provide the best service and supports is exceptional!
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Questions or suggestions about any of the resources listed on the site?
Send us an email to let us know: covid-19@christian-horizons.org