On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak is now a pandemic. A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease and at this time, more than 100 countries have confirmed cases. Nucleus receives regular updates and guidance from the Ministry of Health and Public Health Ontario regarding infection prevention and control measures. All cases in Ontario so far have been travel related however, experts are advising us that it is likely that COVID-19 will begin to spread in our communities. It is therefore important that each and every one of us take the recommended precautions to control the spread of the virus in the community. As a result, we have implemented the following measures:

Screening:

• All our employees are instructed to monitor their own health and not come to work if they have any respiratory symptoms (fever and onset (or exacerbation of chronic) cough). Additionally, our employees have been asked to report any contact/association with any person linked to the COVID-19 illness. We are monitoring this situation daily and are following directions from public health officials.
• Nucleus consumers are being contacted and screened with the recommended COVID-19 Screening Tool questions before each visit (or series of visits). Screening is very important to ensure that we make every effort to help control the spread of the virus. We appreciate your cooperation with this process.
• If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, difficulty breathing), please notify us as soon as possible and call Telehealth (1-866-797-0000) or your local public health unit for further instructions regarding testing.
  

Infection Prevention and Control:

• Our Attendants, Supervisors and Care Coordinators who visit with you, are regularly trained in infection prevention and control best practices. They also have access to the personal protective equipment (PPE) they require to carry out their work safely.
• We have a small stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) required by our staff for use related to COVID-19, however, due to a recent increase in global demand,
• some of these items are in short supply. We are working with our health partners, suppliers and the Ministry of Health to obtain the supplies we require and we are following Public Health Ontario guidelines for their use.
• Due to the reduced availability of hand sanitizer at this time, and because washing hands with soap and water is an equally effective method for cleaning hands, our attendants are being provided with a bottle of soap to take with them to one of your next visits and to leave in your home. This soap is being provided for use by Nucleus attendants, at no cost to you, in order to maintain infection prevention and control best practices. We have labelled the soap bottle to help with its identification and ask that you help ensure it is not used by anyone else in the home and is kept available for use by our attendants.
  

Currently, we plan to continue to provide services during this pandemic. However, it is likely that our staff will also be impacted by COVID-19. For this reason, we want to advise you that a service disruption will occur if we do not have the staff required to provide all services. If services are disrupted, we will prioritize essential services, to match staffing levels, in order to maintain consumer safety. You will be notified of any changes to your service schedule or tasks. If you have a back-up plan for assistance, we ask that you be ready to activate it. Also, if your circumstances change during the pandemic and you require less service for any reason, we ask that you notify our office so that we can temporarily reduce your services accordingly.

At this time, experts are telling us that we all play a very important role in efforts to control the spread of the virus in our communities. To help keep you informed, we have attached some materials provided by Ministry of Health to help explain this virus and what you can do. We will continue to communicate with you when new and important information becomes available and we be posting announcements/information on our website at www.nucleusonline.ca. Until then, you may wish to refer to Public Health Ontario for information on the COVID-19 virus at www.publichealthontario.ca.