If you haven’t taken or finished the COVID-19: Best Practices for Lactation Consultants, Perinatal Educators and Doulas, please know that this blog and the ones that follow are ADDENDUMS and SUPPLEMENTS to the course. They will refer to the essential information in that program.
As we developed a communication plan for our students, we have a weekly briefing newsletter (which you are welcome to sign up for, even if you’ve yet to take the course), and these supplements. We decided to post some of these publicly. If you’re new to WisdomWay Institute, we hope this information may be of benefit to you.
But please don’t stop there to learn what you need to know in order to keep your communities healthy. We must work together to mitigate the spread of coronavirus and meet the needs for reproductive health services. For the sake of time and the urgency to get out new information, you will see places where we refer to the course.
If you’re working as a doula, lactation consultant or First-Year Specialist, community health worker, would your care of families be considered an essential duty?
Read your local ordinances for your region, but with current guidelines in place for California, Illinois, and Wisconsin, leaving your home to work with families in their homes would be permissible.
Whether you should, we’ll explore further.
Video Conferencing and telehealth
As we explore how best to support your families who need your support, the first question to ask is if you need to be physically present to provide care? A baby weight check?? Yes. A visit that is educational?? No. Caring for a newborn to allow restorative sleep for a parent struggling with anxiety?? Yes.
You’ll have to continually reappraise and redefine the ways that we get needed services to families.
The next question is whether or not it would be safe for you to do so.
Exclude from Duty
When should you stay home to keep others safe? Understand the criteria for self-monitoring, self-quarantine, and when and how to maintain isolation of infected persons. You’ll have to ask yourself:
- Am I free of any symptoms of respiratory illness, GI symptoms or fever?
- Who have I had contact with in the last 14 days?
- Who have they had contact with in the last 14 days?
- What is my precaution plan?
- What are my risk factors?
Refer to this lesson in the Course: Preventing the Spread: Excluding from Duty
When is it safe to go into a client’s home?
Refer to this lesson in the Course: Guidelines by Scope of Practice: Expecting a Safe Work Environment
Have you created a written coronavirus response plan?
Communication with your clients is critical to mitigate the risk of having in-person contact. Re-read the guidelines in the course and establish a checklist to evaluate whether or not the client’s home is a safe environment.
- Are they and everyone in their household free of symptoms of respiratory illness, GI symptoms or fever?
- Who have they had contact with in the last 14 days?
- Have they been sheltering in place or have they had contact with others?
- What precautions are they taking?
- Is there adequate hygiene in the home and what standards will you require?
- Can you maintain a distance while delivering care except when it’s absolutely necessary?
- Do they have the supplies you need to disinfect surfaces? Have freshly laundered (hot water) blanket barriers for caring for an infant? Single use toweling?
Refer, as well, to the lessons related to threshold practices, what to bring, and what procedures to follow as you care for others, and as you enter and leave the home
PPE in the care of non-infected households
We have learned in the Covid-19 Best Practices course that the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment is important in precaution protocols. However, we have learned how limited these are. Please revisit Preventing the Spread: Making Do – Access to Personal Protective Equipment as it was recently updated.
The following white line in the graph shows what the United States has available in EMERGENCY stockpiles, and the RED, is what is estimated to be the need.
With respect for our health care providers on the front lines caring for INFECTED persons, please use great thoughtfulness, and please, if you have a store of gloves, masks, respirators, get them to the health providers in your community that are in need.
Ask yourself if your care is helping to reduce the burden on our health system and to reduce the spread.
Your small one: one care providing, when done so with best practices and great care, can help new families stay healthy and well. Which ultimately reduces burden on health care systems.
In future posts, we’re going to explore how to address the growing mental health crisis for our communities, but particularly as it relates to the needs of new families. We’ll share a Response Plan and other important briefings on perinatal mental health issues.
With respect for our health care providers on the front lines caring for INFECTED persons, please use great thoughtfulness, and please, if you have a store of gloves, masks, respirators, get them to the health providers in your community that are in need.
Ask yourself if your care is helping to reduce the burden on our health system and to reduce the spread.
Your small one: one care providing, when done so with best practices and great care, can help new families stay healthy and well. Which ultimately reduces burden on health care systems.
In future posts, we’re going to explore how to address the growing mental health crisis for our communities, but particularly as it relates to the needs of new families. We’ll share a Response Plan and other important briefings on perinatal mental health issues.
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At this time our team is unable to quickly respond to email inquiries, so be patient, but leave us a note at info@wisdomwayinstitute.com.