Full Heart Home Care is committed to keeping clients, staff members and families safe from COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. Our safety practices always include standard infection prevention protocol, and we continue to take extra precautions to prevent the spread of COVID.
What Can You Do?
We ask that you have hand soap and paper towels available for caregivers to use. While hand sanitizer is a great option for between washing or on-the-go, washing hands with soap and water is better. And because washed hands are only as clean as the towel used to dry them, having paper towels on-hand is a critical part of hand hygiene.
We also ask that clients and family members follow CDC guidelines regarding masks, social distancing and hand washing.
What Are We Doing?
Our caregivers are Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) trained to practice standard infection prevention procedures. During and following the COVID-19 pandemic, our team members are required to comply with our three-part Enhanced Infection Prevention Protocol:
Hand Hygiene
Caregivers wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds: upon entering a client’s home, before and after performing personal care, before handling food, before and after using the bathroom or assisting a client to the bathroom, after performing housekeeping tasks, after handling trash, before departing a client’s home and any other time their hands might have come into contact with pathogens.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
We provide caregivers with gloves, masks and hand sanitizer for the protection of our clients and our team. We will also provide face shields and gowns upon request and in the case of COVID-positive clients.
- Caregivers wear masks over the nose and mouth throughout every shift, except when eating and drinking. They are instructed to only remove masks for eating and drinking when at a distance of at least six feet from clients.
- If acceptable to the client, caregivers who are current with vaccines are not required to mask.
- Gloves must be worn when performing personal care.
Monitoring & Vigilance
Prior to clocking-in for each shift, our team members complete a short questionnaire to screen for any possible virus exposure. Caregivers are instructed NOT to report for work if they have been exposed or have any COVID symptoms, in which case we will contact the client to make alternate arrangements. Caregivers also monitor clients for possible COVID symptoms and promptly report any concerns.
While it would be impossible to completely eliminate all risk of virus transmission in the delivery of home care, our team is fully trained and equipped to take every precaution as they care for our clients. We continue to recognize the threat that COVID presents, especially to our clients, many of whom are elderly or have underlying conditions that increase their risk of severe illness. Thank you for also taking precautions to protect our team!
What Is Our Testing Policy?
Testing plays an important role in virus monitoring and management, but it is not a proactive means of preventing infection in most situations. Rather than testing our caregivers regularly, which would reveal the virus after it has been transmitted, we focus on the practices that minimize risk of exposure in the first place. We do test caregivers following exposure or potential exposure to someone with COVID and prior to returning to work after any illness.