On March 9, the Chief Medical Officer of Health announced that the province is removing the public health mandate on masking as of March 21 for most sectors. This announcement clarified the government’s position on removing province-wide emergency mandates and signaled a shift towards organizations and individuals being responsible to assess and respond to their levels of risk with respect to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Garry Hurvitz Centre for Community Mental Health at SickKids (GH-CCMH) is an essential health care service and as such we are committed to the safety of our staff and clients. Omicron remains a highly contagious illness. As we move to provide increased onsite and community service, we will continue our current safety practices.
This includes the requirement that all staff and visitors mask while inside our buildings. It also means that our staff doing community visits are required to mask when seeing clients inside and to adhere to our infection prevention and control standards. Staff providing community visits will assess each situation to determine safety and may request use of masks by clients during a visit as well as adherence to social distancing. Virtual and onsite options may be recommended in some situations.
With these practices in place, we are providing in-person services at our sites and in the community, as well as virtual services. We work with our clients to determine the best model of care for them within these rules. Here is a summary of our current levels of service:
- In-person services (in the community, in a client’s home, or at the Centre) are available
- Virtual services continue across all programs
- Day treatment classrooms are operating in person onsite
- EarlyON programs are virtual and in-person
We are committed to our safety guidelines to keep our clients, families, staff and visitors safe. This includes screening, masking, hand washing and physical distancing.
We conduct safety assessments before any in-home or in-community visits to confirm that there will be full compliance with our infection control requirements.
We are reviewing the situation regularly and will provide updates of any changes – please watch this space.
For more information on COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines, please refer to the COVID-19 City of Toronto site. If you have any questions about your care, please ask your clinician.
New client? Phone us if you need services – we are here to help. Call our Mental Health Access Program at 416-924-1164 ext. 8708; we will return your call the same day or the next business day.
The Garry Hurvitz Centre for Community Mental Health at SickKids is part of the SickKids mental health continuum of services including hospital services and the TeleLink Mental Health Program which offers both urban and rural telepsychiatry virtual services – these services are open as well.
To arrange a referral to hospital outpatient services, call the Mental Health Access Program at 416-813-7005.
For inquiries concerning services in the TeleLink Mental Health Program, call 1-877-507-7301.
For information regarding all Toronto child mental health services, visit mentalhealthTO.ca.
