Dear Clients & Families of Midwives of Brampton & Halton Hills :
We wanted to take this opportunity to let you know the plans we are making in order to continue to provide quality, safe care during the COVID 19 Pandemic. We have made a few changes following public health recommendations in order to ensure the health and safety of you, your families and our staff.
The midwives on your team and staff will follow all employee health guidelines regarding self-isolation if they are at risk of COVID-19 or screen positive. It is possible in this situation that your visit or birth could be attended by a midwife from another team if necessary.
If you or your family member(s) develop symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, cough, and shortness of breath please DO NOT COME INTO CLINIC. In Peel please contact Peel Public Health at Peel Public Health at 905-799-7700, Caledon 905-584-2216. In Halton Hills, contact Halton Public Health by dialling 311.
In Clinic Visits:
Starting immediately we will be following the lead of other midwifery and physician clinics and limit the risk of exposure by reducing the number of prenatal clinic visits. We will follow the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) schedule of prenatal appointments. This includes 1 visit in first trimester, 2 visits in second trimester and 4-5 visits in the third trimester. As always our midwives will use their clinical judgement if more frequent appointments are indicated. As a result many clients will be receiving calls from us to change or reschedule appointment accordingly.
Additionally, in order to limit your time in our clinic we will be shortening the length of the appointments to include blood pressure and belly checks (listening to baby, measuring your belly) only. All other discussion portions of the appointment will be done over the phone before or after your appointment.
What to expect in clinic
In effort to support social distancing recommendations, we are asking clients to wait in their vehicle and not enter the clinic space until the midwife has called you by phone to come in. If you do not have access to a mobile phone, please email or call clinic prior to your appointment to make alternative arrangements.
Please expect to be asked screening questions on arrival to the clinic.
We are also asking that you come alone to your appointment and not bring any children into the clinic. If you require someone to drive you to your appointment please have them wait in the car. Partners and family can join the appointment by phone/facetime/skype as you like.
As of today we have removed all toys and magazines from our waiting room in order to reduce the items touched in the space and to make cleaning easier. We will continue to wipe down exam rooms and equipment between clients. As always we will wash our hands or use hand sanitizer between appointments.
Postpartum Visits & Clinic Appointments
We will also be changing and/or reducing the number of postpartum visits. We will be planning to follow the schedule of Day 1 (24-36hrs after birth), Day 3 at home. Depending on you and your baby’s needs your next visit may be between day 5-10 at home OR will be in clinic around 2-3 weeks postpartum, the final visit in clinic between 5-6 weeks postpartum remains.
Prior to any home visits you will be asked screening questions. Please notify the midwife if you or anyone in the home have any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or have reason to believe you or someone in the home has been exposed. We are also advising in keeping with social distancing you limit visitors in your home during this time.
Our midwives and staff are working very hard to make sure that we can continue to provide quality midwifery care to all our clients. We appreciate that during this time some of these changes may cause inconvenience to you. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this time and will be in regular communication as the situation evolves.
Sincerely,
Midwives of Brampton & Halton Hills
We have included some links to further information should you be interested.
https://www.peelregion.ca/coronavirus/
www.halton.ca/COVID19
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg62
