Evergreen Home for Special Care
Off-Site Resident Visits
Off-Site Resident Visits
Purpose: To provide clear directives to Evergreen staff, family (or individuals identified by families), and residents on the procedures and safety measures involving resident's leaving facility grounds for off-site day visits with family in their homes.
The following guidelines are based on directives set by Department of Health & Wellness in alignment with Health Protection Act Order by the Chief Medical Officer of Health and the NSHA Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines for Long-term Care Settings.
Screening
Family to contact Social Worker (SW) (ext. 307) to book date of resident's off-site visit, visits must be scheduled at least 24-hours in advance.
Family will be informed of COVID-19 screening protocol and safety measures required to ensure resident's safety.
Social Worker or Nursing Supervisor to conduct pre-screening with the accompanying family member on the day of off-site visit. Screening will be done over the phone using Evergreen's COVID-19 Pre-Screening Tool for LTCF Family/Visitor (available in PCC assessment page).
If pre-screening was not completed, it must be completed before resident is brought to family/responsible individual.
Evergreen will only complete COVID-19 screening for the person identified as the responsible/accompanying party.
Information collected on COVID-19 Pre-Screening Tool for LTCF Family/Visitor may be released by Evergreen to Public Health if requested to assist in contact tracing efforts
SW will record details of outing, including completion of pre-screening on Offsite Resident Visit Log. This Log will be provided to Supervisors in Children and Senior Centres at 1630 Monday to Friday as communication for scheduled evening and weekend outings.
Evergreen's Off-Site Resident Visit Log will include:
Name of resident
Name of responsible party who will be accompanying/driving
Contact information of accompanying individual (tel/email)
Departure date and time
Planned time of return to facility
The home that will be visited
Mode of transportation
Indication whether COVID-19 pre-screening was completed per PCC screening tool (Yes/No) for the family member/support person who is transporting the resident
Information on Log will be maintained for minimum 6 weeks
Accompanying individual will not be permitted to pick up resident if they are experiencing/exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or are under a requirement to self-isolate (due to travel, awaiting results of COVID-19 testing, due to contact with a COVID-19 case, are currently ill with COVID-19, or for other reasons).
Nursing staff to escort resident to and from the main entrance to meet accompanying individual and upon return at end of outing.
Offsite Residents Visits to the family home is a single day outing. Overnight visits are not permitted.
Upon return, staff to conduct COVID-19 Resident Risk Assessment Tool including vital signs, documented in resident's electronic health record.
Evergreen reserves the right to cancel future visits due to family's failure to comply with above guidelines.
Evergreen will strictly adhere to Infection Control Guidelines as per DHW and Public Health protocols for Off-Site Residents Visits.
Mask
Facility to provide resident with medical mask. When travelling in a private vehicle (e.g. family cars), residents are encouraged but not required, to wear medical mask. Staff may send extra masks as needed.
Individuals transporting resident to and from off-site visits must wear a non-medical mask during transport, and at any other time as required by the Health Protection Act and the Chief Medical Officer of Health such as when unable to maintain distance of 2 metres.
Physical Distancing
Staff must communicate to residents and family/responsible party the importance of maintaining a physical distance of two (2) metres between resident and others for the entire duration of the family home visit. While it is expected that the resident practices physical distancing for the majority of their visit, visits will allow for limited physical contact when masked (e.g. a quick hug, shaking hands with appropriate hand hygiene measures, etc.)
Respiratory Etiquette and Hand Hygiene
Facilities will provide travel hand sanitizer for residents to encourage frequent hand hygiene after contact with high-touch surfaces.
Resident and accompanying individual(s) to practice respiratory etiquette by coughing/sneezing into a tissue or elbow and immediately throwing away tissue and washing hands. Avoid contact with eyes/nose/mouth/face.
Upon return, resident must sanitize hands using alcohol-based hand sanitizer located at the main entrance door. Once equipment is cleaned, staff to accompany resident to nearest washroom and properly wash hands with soap and water.
Designated Pick-up/Drop-off
Pick-up and drop-off will be at the main entrance door of applicable Centre. Ring the doorbell on arrival if staff are not present
Maintain physical distancing during pick-up/drop-off, when possible.
Visitors are expecting to maintain 2 metre distance while waiting for resident to be brought to facility entrance.
Resident Equipment – Cleaning and Disinfecting
Only essential equipment should be used by resident when leaving the facility for medical appointments.
Equipment - including mobility aides - must be cleaned and disinfected by staff with an appropriate disinfectant upon return, prior to entry into the facility.
Staff to use disposable gloves when cleaning the surface
Education for Residents and Families
Responsible parties are to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms. They are to cancel their visits by calling Nursing Supervisor. Individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are not to come to Evergreen. If responsible parties are found to have COVID-19 symptoms on arrival, the Nursing Supervisor of the Centre will be notified and the scheduled visit will be cancelled.
Nursing Supervisors: Children Centre ext. 7002; Senior Centre ext. 6918.
Prior to the resident leaving the facility, staff to provide copy of Proper Hand Washing, Respiratory Etiquette and How to Wear Protective Face Mask/Non-Medical Mask.
Copies found with PPE at both Centre entrance's.
Inform family/responsible individual that should they become ill in the two weeks following their interaction with the resident while in the community, the individual must contact 811 for screening and assessment for testing. Should the individual test positive for COVID-19, the individual must inform Public Health during their investigation that they had close contact with a resident residing at Evergreen. Family/individual are asked to notify Evergreen Nursing Supervisor of COVID-19 testing results at the above numbers.
Resident Transportation
Family vehicle or vehicle contracted by family to provide transport to resident must be cleaned and disinfected prior to use.
Driver and all passengers of vehicle must wear non-medical face masks for duration of transport.
The driver and resident must sit as far apart as possible and number of passengers in the vehicle should be limited as much as possible.
Procedure
SDM or designate to contact Social Worker (902-678-7355 ext. 307) to arrange off-site visit
Outings must be scheduled a minimum of 24 hours in advance
Scheduling calls will only be accepted Monday-Friday 9:00am-4:00pm
Outings are permitted weekdays and weekends and are not to extend overnight
Enter schedule on Offsite Resident Visit Log.
Social Worker or Nursing Supervisor to conduct COVID-19 screening of accompanying individual/driver via telephone on the date of visit.
Staff to provide IPAC Education package (hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, masking, and social distancing) to accompanying individual/driver.
Family/responsible individuals must understand and agree to the written guidelines on Off-Site Resident Visits. This will be reviewed during COVID-19 screening process.
