Blanche River Health Shares Policy Updates Amidst Lifting of Provincial Mandates
Blanche River Health Shares Policy Updates Amidst Lifting of Provincial Mandates
Kirkland Lake, ON: As pandemic-related public health measures continue to ease in accordance with recent provincial Chief Medical Officer of Health announcements, including the lifting of masking mandates in most public settings on March 21, 2022, Blanche River Health wishes to advise that our hospitals will be maintaining the screening, masking, visitor/care partner and COVID-19 vaccination and infection control policies currently in place. Blanche River Health continues to feel the effects of higher occupancy rates coupled with ongoing staffing pressures, like many hospitals in the province, and will continue to practice stringent infection prevention and control measures to ensure patients receive the service levels they have come to expect at both sites.
“It simply comes down to minimizing the risk to our patients and staff, and we anticipate it will still be a while before pressures on the health system subside, especially since public health measures are being relaxed and the COVID-19 Omicron variant is still very evident in Northern Ontario,” said Blanche River Health President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Conroy. He added, “We will continue to monitor and assess our situation and make adjustments to our policies in a cautious manner as our patients’ safety and well-being are top priority.”
Currently, in-patients are permitted two essential care partners who must be fully vaccinated (with exceptions made for end-of-life, pediatric and critically ill patients.) Care partners are being provided with rapid antigen test kits to perform self-monitoring prior to attending the hospital as an additional layer of infection control measures due to the lifting of broader public health measures.
Blanche River Health’s surgical program is well on its way to resuming normal operating levels after a reduction in services in response to prior government directives associated with the Omicron variant and maintaining system capacity.
“I want to thank our community members for their continued support and patience as we still navigate ongoing pandemic pressures while adjusting to what we hope is a more endemic phase of COVID-19,” said Conroy. “In addition, I want to recognize all of the great work our staff, management team and physicians have done over the past two years and for their continued dedication to our organization and providing the best care for our patients, their family members and the communities we serve at Blanche River Health.”
For more information about Blanche River Health, and for the latest COVID-19 updates, please visit: www.blancheriverhealth.ca.
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