Joseph Brant Hospital Statement on Employee Testing in Response to Media Reports
*Please see below a media statement issued by Joseph Brant Hospital in response to recent media reports. Here is a PDF version of the statement: Joseph Brant Hospital Statement Employee Testing April 15.Joseph Brant Hospital StatementPosted on Wednesday April 15, 2020April 15, 2020Our top priority at Joseph Brant Hospital is to protect the health and safety of our staff, physicians, patients and community during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important that the public and our staff are confident that we are absolutely committed to this task and that our policies and procedures follow best practices, and are in accordance with guidance from the Ministry of Health and Public Health, which is why we would like to provide clarification regarding recent media reports about health care workers returning to work after testing positive for COVID-19. To date, we have tested approximately 400 staff and physicians for COVID-19. Nine employees have been confirmed positive COVID-19 and 46 have results pending. No symptomatic or asymptomatic employees or physicians who have tested positive for COVID-19 have returned to work.Our policy regarding staff who have tested positive has been and will continue to be consistent with current Ministry of Health guidance, which was last updated by the Ministry on April 10. We also work in close consultation with Public Health to ensure consistency and that we are doing everything we can to protect the safety of our patients, our staff and our physicians.On April 6, we issued a communication to staff regarding our return to work policy which was consistent with Ministry guidance at that time. Joseph Brant Hospital has been following the updated April 10 Ministry of Health guidance: employees who test positive and are symptomatic are not to return to work and self-isolate, and staff who test positive and are asymptomatic are to stay home for 72 hours and then contact Employee Health Services for further direction. Every case is evaluated with Employee Health Services on a case-by-case basis.We remain committed to providing safe, quality care to our patients, and protecting the safety of our staff and physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.Sincerely,
—PLEASE NOTE: To stay updated on what the City of Burlington is doing regarding COVID-19, please visit the dedicated pages burlington.ca/coronavirus (and subscribe) and bit.ly/mayormeedwardCOVID19updates, and our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page — bit.ly/COVID19BurlingtonFAQ that are updated as new information becomes available.A Burlington COVID-19 Task Force has been created to help support our community through this unprecedented emergency — updates will be provided at burlington.ca/COVID19taskforce.To report an incident of non-compliance with provincial emergency orders, please contact the Halton Regional Police Service COVID-19 Hotline: 905-825-4722.HELPFUL RESOURCES & RELATED LINKS:
- Community questions and requests regarding City of Burlington services can be directed to Service Burlington by phone at 903-335-7777, by email at city@burlington.ca or online.
- For further COVID-19 information, including where to get tested, please visit Halton Region Public Health halton.ca/coronavirus
- Residents can stay informed at burlington.ca/coronavirus as well as on our social media channels: @cityburlington on Twitter and facebook.com/cityburlington
- Questions about the cancellation of Recreation programs can be directed to rentals@burlington.ca or liveandplay@burlington.ca or 905-335-7738
- City of Burlington: www.burlington.ca/coronavirus
- Halton Region: www.halton.ca/coronavirus
- Government of Ontario: www.ontario.ca/coronavirus
- Government of Canada: www.canada.ca/coronavirus
- World Health Organization: www.who.int
- Joseph Brant Hospital: josephbranthospital.ca/covid-19
- Team Burlington Business Supports: burlingtonchamber.com/team-burl-supporting-burl-business-during-covid-19/
—*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor’s Media and Digital Communications Specialist