HVE COVID-19 Guideline

As we welcome you back to our offices you can rest assured that the health, safety and wellbeing of our team, clients, customers, secondary service providers and visitors remains our top priority. While we have always been dedicated to providing a clean and safe environment, we have been working closely with our Medical Director a dual specialist in Internal Medicine and Occupational and Environmental Medicine, to enhance those protocols in alignment with the Ministry of Health recommendations.

The following is HVE's COVID-19 Guideline for the management of its assessment facilities and offices:

1. Cleaning & Sanitization
2. Setup & Configuration
3. Employees / Claimants / Secondary Service Providers/Visitors – Management
4. COVID-19 Symptoms & Screening
5. Appointment Management
6. Return to Work Plan for Employees
7. PPE Considerations

Office Cleaning

• All shared equipment including stethoscope, blood pressure cuffs and otoscopes are cleaned between each claimant seen.
• Horizontal and touch surfaces (ex. counters, tables, examining table) are cleaned after each assessment and at least twice daily.
• Frequently-touched surfaces (ex. door knobs, light switches, telephones, keyboards, mouse, pens, charts, phones, bathrooms) are cleaned at least twice daily.
• General cleaning of exam rooms (chairs, tables and floors) is performed at least twice per day.

All cleaning is done with alcohol (70-95% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol) or 5.25% sodium hypochlorite at 50,000ppm (1:50 dilution of household bleach) and steady friction from a cleaning cloth.

Office Setup

• Physical barriers are in place at all reception desks.
• All seating is distanced by 2 meters/6 feet (administrative desks and waiting room seating)
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is worn by the screening employee at the reception
• HEPA filters which capture 99.97 – 99.9995 % of particles 0.3 microns in size have been placed in the main waiting room at each location to recirculate the air and filter out virus particles.

Employees / Claimants / Visitors – Management

All visitors, claimants and employees are screened on entry to the facility. This screen is at the time of booking, during all confirmation calls and upon arrival to the assessment centre.

In addition, COVID-19 screening information is also available as following:

1. Screening notices posted on all external doors and entrances to facilities
2. On HVE's Website

All Secondary Service Providers that enter the facility will be screened on entry. In alignment with our provider's own COVID-19 policies, transportation services will be providing curbside pickup and drop-off, and translators will be providing their own PPE.

COVID-19 Symptoms and Screening

Current Ministry of Health data is that symptoms develop within 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. The symptoms most commonly associated with COVID-19 are:

• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Sore throat
• Runny nose, sneezing or nasal congestion (unrelated to seasonal allergies and/or post-nasal drip)
• Hoarse voice
• Difficulty swallowing
• New loss of smell or taste
• Nausea/vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain
• Unexplained fatigue/malaise
• Chills
• Headache
• Unexplained muscle or body aches

Screening Symptoms

• A set of screening questions based upon the CDC described symptoms and a Ministry of Health COVID-19 screening tool are as follows:
• Do you have any of the following symptoms or signs (Fever, cough, shortness of breath or diarrhea)?
• Have you travelled outside of Canada in the past 10 days?
• Have you had close contact with anyone with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19? 

If yes to any of these questions, the claimant will be asked to reschedule their assessment after 10 days.

For visitors that answer NO to all questions, the assessment will be completed as scheduled. 

Appointment Management & Scheduling

The goal of appointment management and scheduling is to minimize the time that each claimant spends in the facility and their contact with other individuals.

This will involve:

• Offset appointment arrival times for different providers – staggered by 15 min
• Only essential members to attend assessment: claimant, translator, chaperone and assessor
• Claimant screening during scheduling and attendance confirmation calls
• Cue patient outside to ensure no crowding (waiting in cars) where possible
• Seating in the waiting room has been re-arranged or blocked to optimize physical distancing of minimum 2 meters
• We will use empty examining rooms as waiting areas. Avoid grouping of claimants.

Claimant Gowns:

• If a gown is required to facilitate examination, only disposable gowns are to be used
• Claimant will dispose of their gown in a garbage bin placed in the examining room 
• If staff need to move a gown, left by the claimant, they must use gloves

Employee Return to Work Guideline

The return to work guidelines at HVE focuses on the principle of separation and distancing of employees.  In addition, these guidelines were adapted from current CDC recommendations and recognize that there is no procedure-related to aerosol generation in the workplace.

• Any documented fever requires staff to exit the premise, return home to self-quarantine 
• All employees to respect social distancing and remain seated 2 meters apart
• All employees to wear masks when up from their desks, moving through the office or in common/shared areas of the office
• Employees to work from home as feasible
• Limit physical contact (no handshakes)

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Upon arrival to the facility, all visitors should utilize the hand sanitizer provided at the entrance. 

• Droplet mask - required PPE for assessors, chaperones, interpreters and front desk staff at their own discretion
• All cleaning staff to use mask and gloves
• All assessors to assess claimants with droplet mask and wearing gloves for direct physical exam at their own discretion or at the request of the claimant

HVE is extremely dedicated to the health and safety of all persons attending any of our locations across Canada. Our COVID-19 Committee has undertaken extraordinary measures to ensure this safety. We are confident that HVE has put in place industry-leading best practices to manage the COVID-19 risk in a comprehensive manner.