At Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) in Windsor, Ontario, our top priority is to ensure that patients, staff, and physicians are protected during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this pandemic and its impact in our region, on Saturday, March 21st, HDGH implemented a number of visitor restrictions.
As restrictions are lifted throughout our province, HDGH has worked closely with our Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC) – a group consisting of community members whose loved one was a past patients or who were a past patient themselves, and staff – to develop a Patient Visitation Plan. This plan outlines the slow, phased approach to welcoming individuals back onto the campus. As a post acute care hospital, we care for some of the community's most vulnerable individuals. This phased approach, along with continuous assessment of the evolution of COVID-19 in our community, will ensure that HDGH maintains the health and safety of everyone at our organization.
At the beginning of June, HDGH implemented Phase 2, Stage 1 of the Patient Visitation Plan which began with the launch of a Coordinated Care Plan (CCP). The CCP is a program that enables trained Designated Care Partners (DCP) to provide specific aspects of the care plan to a patient within a defined period of time. Joe Karb, Vice President, Restorative Care explains, "A Designated Care Partner or DCP is any person that the patient and/or substitute decision-maker (SDM) identifies. The patient and DCP works with the healthcare team to define how they will be involved in care, care planning, and decision-making."
DCP's at HDGH are identified for patients who:
- are planning for discharge whereby a DCP is required for health teaching,
- have language barriers; patients who are non-verbal; patients with cognitive, emotional and/or physical disabilities as these patients may have the inability to understand the pandemic and the reason why visitation is limited.
On Friday, June 5th, HDGH began their measured and phased approach by welcoming nine Designated Care Partners on site for training that will help keep themselves, their loved ones, and our staff safe. This training included details on the CCP program, how to properly put on and take off Personal Protective Equipment, the screening process to enter the building, and other expectations of them as key members of the care team.
"I know that this is so very different from how we usually do things, but it is necessary to keep everyone safe," says Barb Masotti, PFAC Chair and Community Member, as she welcomes our DCPs, reminding them the importance of adhering to the guidelines set out in our CCP. "I want to wish you more patience, more understanding, and more strength, and I'm thanking you ahead of time for all of those things because we can do this."
Over the next several weeks, HDGH will continue to welcome more Designated Care Partners, reconnecting patients with their loved ones.
For patients who do not require coordinated care or palliative visitation, our Family Support Team remains active to support our patients through virtual visitations and companionship.
HDGH has posted the Patient Visitation Plan on their website and it can be viewed by clicking here. More information about Designated Care Partners can be viewed by visiting: https://www.hdgh.org/patientvisitation.