03/17/2020
Attention Clients,
We’d like to take this opportunity to communicate
with you about plans we have made to continue to
provide safe care during the COVID-19
Pandemic.
Your health and our health are the top priorities at
this time. The midwives will follow all employee
health guidelines regarding self-isolation if they
are at risk of COVID-19 or screen positive. This may mean that your visit or birth will be attended by a different midwife.
If you develop symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath, please follow the advice of the Public Health
Departments and call telehealth or your local
public health department to see if you qualify for testing. Do not attend your clinic appointment but
call ahead and we will discuss what to do next.
In-person clinic visits:
Starting this week, we will follow what other
midwifery and physician clinics are doing and limit the risk of exposure by having you come to clinic less often. To guide this decision, we are using the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on the number of prenatal appointments for a positive outcome.
This includes:
One visit in the first trimester (we will book initial appointments for around10 weeks), two visits in the second trimester at 20 and 26 weeks, and then more frequent visits in the third trimester at 30, 34, 36, 38, 39 and 40 weeks. If your situation required that you be seen more often, those arrangements will be made.
Phone Assessments:
We can achieve a lot over the phone including
answering your questions, informing you about relevant topics related to pregnancy and birth, arranging ultrasounds, sending prescriptions to the pharmacy, and ordering bloodwork. If you would prefer a
phone assessment over an in-person visit for any of your scheduled visits, please let us know.
Our clinic space:
On Monday March 16 we will be removing all the toys and magazines from the waiting room to reduce the number of objects that are touched, and to make cleaning easier. We will not be using the waiting room to assist in social distancing and instead, you will wait for your appointment in a clinic room or designated area. We will continue to wipe off surfaces in the clinic room in between clients, and, as always, wash our hands or use hand sanitizer in between clients. We ask that you self-screen and also use hand sanitizer when you arrive for your appointment. If you answer yes to any of the screening questions, you will be directed to go home and contact telehealth or your local public health department.
To further support social distancing, we ask that you come alone for your visits, with partner or support person only if there are pressing reasons to have them there with you at that visit. We ask that children remain at home or outside the clinic with a care provider.
Our Hospitals, Lakeridge Health Ajax and
Scarborough Health Network Centenary and
General sites:
If you have screening positive for COVID-19, the Birthing Units are equipped with the items
required to care for you. The isolation room has a special filter, and all health care professionals will use personal protective equipment such as a gown, mask, gloves, and face shield to provide care. If a pregnant person develops more severe symptoms, their care could be moved to another area of the hospital in close consultation with other physicians. Labouring clients who are positive for COVID-19 or have symptoms may have their care transferred to an obstetrician.
The hospital has initiated strict visitor limitations.
You may only have one person with you during your birth and postpartum stay. This visitor will receive a bracelet to identify them as your support person. To decrease the number of people coming into the hospital, that person visitor is not interchangeable. This person may be with you at any time of the day or night. Children, including siblings of the new baby, are not allowed to visit the hospital at this time.
To help manage the workload during this time of pandemic, we will ask our clients to be flexible on which hospital they birth at. If we already have clients at one hospital, you will be asked to go to that hospital to make sure we have enough midwives to attend you even if we have midwives off sick. As well, more clients may choose home birth during this time and we want to maximize being able to accommodate this choice.
Home Births:
We will continue to offer choice of birthplace.
Home birth can be a great way to keep clients and babies out of the hospital, however, we need to be certain that every person requesting a home birth is a good candidate for home birth (ie. low risk of complications). If any household members are sick or have screened positive for COVID-19, midwives will not be able to attend you at home and will request that the birth occurs in a hospital
where there is a supply of masks and gowns.
Continuing Updates:
There are changes happening every day as the pandemic is evolving. We are hopeful that the measures taken by the Canadian and Ontario governments to reduce travel, close schools, and cancel large events will slow the spread of COVID-19 and allow the healthcare system to properly care for those who need it.
We will do our
best to keep you up-to-date on changes in
practices at Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley
Midwives as time goes on.
We know it can be stressful to deal with situations like this, especially while you are pregnant or have a new baby at home. Our hope is that you remain healthy and calm in the weeks ahead.
Sincerely,
All of us at Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives
