COVID-19

Tuesday, January 31st 2023

Below you will find the most recent updates to our COVID precautions:

We are dedicated to continuing our efforts to reduce the viral load within our community. 

Our mask policy for patients and staff will remain the same for all in-home visits. Our policy is out of an abundance of caution and safety towards our high-risk and medically compromised patient population.

The following screening questions will be asked, prior to each in-home visit.  

Prior to each in-person visit, the clinician and client/family must first complete the agency COVID-19 screener. Both clinician and client/family must be able to answer no to these questions before performing the visit.

• Does the patient and/or caregiver show signs or symptoms of fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, chills, muscle aches, or loss of taste or smell? (Temperature will be checked upon arrival at your home and reading must be at 99.5F or below without the use of fever-reducing medication)
• Does the patient and/or caregiver show signs of a new or worsening runny nose, nasal congestion, headache, or nausea/vomiting/diarrhea that is not related to a chronic condition
• Has the patient and/or anyone living in the same household been asked to quarantine or is under investigation (awaiting test results) for COVID-19 in the past 14 days?
• Has the patient and/or anyone living in the same household had contact in the last 14 days with someone who has a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, is under investigation for COVID-19, or is ill with a respiratory illness?

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All clinicians and clients/families must comply with the following safety precautions:

• The number of individuals present in the space where the sessions take place must be limited to one caregiver, the patient, treating therapist, and nurse (if applicable).
• Sessions that can take place outdoors are encouraged. The caregiver must be present.
• Therapists and patients will wash hands or utilize hand sanitizer at the beginning and end of each session.
• Masks are optional for clinicians during the provision of therapy services, UNLESS:
  1. Providing services for a medically fragile/immunocompromised patient
  2. Patient and/or their caregiver present signs/symptoms of a viral illness that are not worsening without presence of an infection (i.e. no fever, vomiting, diarrhea, flu, strep,   COVID, etc.)
  3. Therapist presents signs/symptoms of a viral illness that are not worsening without presence of an infection (i.e. no fever, vomiting, diarrhea, flu, strep, COVID, etc.)
  4. Therapist’s clinical reasoning indicates a need for masking/PPE in situations not listed above
• In situations where a surgical mask impedes the therapy session, therapists may use a combination of a clear mask or face shield.
• All parents/caregivers are strongly encouraged to wear a mask or a cloth face covering during the therapy session or when approaching the clinician. If a parent/caregiver opts not to wear a mask or cannot to wear a mask, then:
  • If appropriate for the therapy session and activities, the parent/caregiver may go to another room.
  • If not appropriate for the therapy session and activities for parent to leave the room and the clinician is comfortable with them remaining present, then clinicians are to document the family/client were encouraged to wear a mask as a precaution to prevent disease transmission and opted not wear one.
• Children ages two and above who are able to tolerate a mask and take it off independently are encouraged to wear one unless it interferes with therapy (i.e. speech sounds).
• In instances where your child does not tolerate a mask, therapists will add extra precautions such as protective eyewear or face shield.
• During feeding therapy, other aerosol-generating procedures, or ADLS where there is exposure to bodily fluids (i.e. oral hygiene, toileting), therapists will follow ASHA/AOTA and CDC guidelines by wearing a surgical mask, protective eyewear, and gloves.
• As of March 1, 2021, we have resumed collecting signatures on a netbook with the use of stylus and paper signature via VVLs ( visit verification logs). All writing utensils and stylus will be sanitized before and after each use.