Our COVID-19 Response & Action Plan

Our COVID-19 Response & Action Plan

• Mandy Sandhu
• 16 Mar 2020

UPDATE – May 25, 2020:

Freedom From Addiction is pleased to see Doug Ford & the Ontario Government open up and encourage testing to all those who need it. On Sunday May 24th, Ford encouraged the public to get tested for COVID-19, including those who may be asymptomatic or think they may have been exposed. The messaging from Ford is a marked change from earlier Ministry of Health guidelines for the general public, which stated that only those who are displaying one or more symptoms of COVID-19 should be tested. The progression of expanding testing eligibility requirements will allow us to provide necessary addiction treatment to the most vulnerable populations during this time.

If you are considering addiction treatment here at Freedom from Addiction, we encourage you to go to one of the 129 COVID-19 assessment centres and get tested. We are currently only accepting patients who receive a negative test result.

Wishing you and your loved ones safety during this time,

– The Freedom From Addiction team

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UPDATE – April 9th, 2020:

In the best interest of our current clients and staff, we have unfortunately decided to no longer accept patients to Freedom From Addiction without a negative COVID-19 test. As a leading drug and alcohol treatment center in Ontario, if we start accepting individuals that have not been tested, we put our staff and other clients (who are already high risk) at an even larger risk. We have already seen the devastation in other addiction centres across Ontario (CAMH & Homewood Health) that will have a far-reaching impact on not only those centres & their patients, but also local hospitals & emergency care.

As an essential service, it is vital for us to remain open, however, we are desperate to find a solution that keeps everyone safe. We will be in contact with the Ontario government to discuss the best action plan moving forward.

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Original Post – March 16th, 2020:

In light of the recent global outbreak of the COVID-19, we are continuing to monitor the situation very closely. Rest assured, Freedom is taking all precautionary measures and following best practices of infection control to keep our facility safe and clean for our clients, our employees and the community at large. As one of the leading drug and alcohol treatment centers in Canada, our commitment to ensuring a safe environment is at the forefront of our business.  It is imperative that as a medical facility, we work towards tight infection control while offering the cleanest and safest environment possible.

In conjunction with our regular attention to sanitization throughout the facility, we have implemented additional enhanced safety measures and we are closely following the latest guidance from WHO, the Ministry of Health, and Public Health. These measures are as follows:

Admissions Screening for New Patients

Upon entering our facility, you will be asked the following questions:

• Have you travelled outside Canada in the last 14 days?
• Have you come into close contact with anyone who has travelling to any of the countries at high risk?
• Do you have a cough or fever?

If any of these questions were answered yes, we will direct you to call telehealth Ontario for further instructions. This screening tool, set out by the ministry of health, helps us protect our community from the risks of COVID-19 and keeps all parties involved as safe as possible.

Programming and Visitations.

All programming will be cancelled for the next three weeks until further notice; this includes Family Program, Aftercare and all AA meetings led by the facility. As a facility we have also decided to limit visitors on-site; as of this moment there will be no visitation for clients, No one that is not a staff member or client is allowed on-site until further notice (this includes continued care sessions, interviews, walk-through’s, alumni, family members).

Facility Cleanliness and Hygiene

Here at Freedom from Addiction, we take our facility cleanliness very seriously, and in light of what is going on with COVID-19, we have amped up our sanitization and cleaning schedules, to ensure that we are breaking the chain of transmission for infection and making sure the facility is as clean as possible. We as a facility have been extra diligent to ensure frequent public spaces are being sanitized after teaching groups, AA groups, and between uses of any sort. We have also added more hand sanitizing stations and signage throughout the facility on proper techniques on hand hygiene as well as training not only staff but clients as well on the importance of hand hygiene.

Patient Health and Education

With our fully equipped medical team comprised of doctors and nurses, they have been holding information sessions with clients about signs and symptoms of COVID-19.  Especially educating the clients on things such as keeping a safe distance from each other and proper hygiene techniques. As well as monitoring all client’s health-related issues closely to make sure if they are having symptoms they are dealt with accordingly.

Precautions for Staff to Protect Patients

Educated employees; we have ensured that our employees have the information they need to stay healthy or stay at home if they are feeling unwell. As a result, all employees who have travelled anywhere outside Canada have been asked to stay home for 14 days following the day they arrive back in Canada. All employees have also been retrained in handwashing and sanitization procedures.

At Freedom From Addiction, we are well prepared to navigate these challenging circumstances with everyone’s safety in mind. Thank you for being patient with us as we implement these new measures. If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call. Please remember, we are doing this to protect those you love.

Sincerely,

Freedom From Addiction
Management Team