Dear friends of St. Joe’s,
When the doors of St. Joseph’s first opened in 1921, it was because the Sisters of St. Joseph saw that our west end community needed better health care. They made a promise to do whatever was required to look after our neighbours—with care and compassion for all—and ensured St. Joe’s was always ready in any emergency to help our west end community.
St. Joe’s continues to keep our promise to the west end community as we face this global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Teams are working round-the-clock to look after our neighbours during this challenging time. I’m so impressed by their dedication and commitment to support our community’s health, particularly now.
Thank you for sharing our Promise with your support. We deeply appreciate all that you’ve done, and continue to do, to ensure our care providers receive the support they need to do their best in looking after you. In tough times it’s especially important to appreciate what unites us and makes us strong.
There is a lot of information circulating about COVID-19 and I wanted to connect directly to let you know what your Health Centre is doing to look after you and your neighbours.
Assessment Centre:
- We’ve opened an Assessment Centre to help our community stay as safe as possible. Those concerned about their symptoms can be assessed here, easily and safely, with all the proper precautions, such as hand hygiene stations and isolated spaces, in place. The Assessment Centre can be located in St. Joseph’s Sunnyside Building, 30 Sunnyside Avenue. The entrance is off of Sunnyside Ave. and is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the last patient being assessed at 7:30 p.m. or earlier, as required depending on testing capacity. Click here for a map and more information.
Entrance Screening:
- To protect our patients and staff we are screening any staff and visitors for symptoms. Visitors are required to enter and exit our building through specific entrances. You can find more information on which entrances are performing screening and their times by clicking here. Please allow time for this if you are coming to the Health Centre.
One Visitor Per Patient Room:
- To decrease the risk of infection, we have limited the number of visitors per patient to one visitor at a time. Only patients who require end-of-life care will be allowed to have more than one visitor at a time.
Patients with Clinic Appointments:
- If you have a clinic appointment, test or other procedure scheduled, and have travelled outside of Canada in the last 14 days and/or have any of the following symptoms — fever, cough or shortness of breath — please call your clinic to see if you should still come. Clinic staff will advise you on whether you should go to the Emergency Department and the safety protocol in place there.
Travel:
- Anyone who has visited a country with an active government advisory is prohibited from returning to work for 14 days. No international travellers (from anywhere outside of Canada, including the U.S.) can visit St. Joe’s for any reason until further notice.
Events:
- All gatherings of over 50 people have been postponed, cancelled or changed to virtual meetings or telephone conferences.
Foundation Activities:
- Out of concern for our community, we’ve postponed many events and activities that normally help us meet our community needs. As a precautionary measure we reduced the number of our staff working on-site, but we’re still busy supporting our inspiring Health Centre colleagues who are on the front-lines battling COVID-19. You can always reach us by phone at (416) 530-6704, or by email foundation@stjoestoronto.ca . We are happy to hear from you.
Our website will provide you with all the ways St. Joe’s continues to keep our promise to support the best health for our west end community and be here for you, your family and friends and neighbours.
We will continue to monitor the situation and return to regular operations as soon as we can.
With best regards,
Maria Dyck
St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation
President and CEO