An ’emotional journey’: Emmanuel House hospice reopens after coronavirus outbreak

Good Shepherd’s Emmanuel House hospice re-opened its doors on Monday.

Alan Whittle, Good Shepherd’s director of community and government relations, says the hospice is pleased to get back to its role and providing a “very important service” to the community.

Emmanuel House recently experienced a coronavirus outbreak affecting six staff members and three residents.

In response to the outbreak, Good Shepherd closed the hospice to new admissions and hired a professional cleaning service to complete a deep cleaning.

The outbreak was declared over by Hamilton Public Health on May 1 and all six staff members have been cleared to return to work.

Whittle anticipates that the hospice, which temporarily has space for 12 residents, will get back up to capacity “fairly quickly.”

Maria Bau-Coote, Good Shepherd’s director of hospice palliative care services, says it’s been an “emotional journey for everyone,” including front-line workers, residents and their loved ones.

Whittle adds that the virus is “something people fear because it’s a big unknown,” noting that the mental health impacts of the temporary closure were very significant.

As the hospice returns to operation, Emmanuel House staff will screen and swab new patients before admission.

All visitors will be screened each time they arrive and be asked to comply with essential guidelines regarding use of personal protective equipment, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

The Good Shepherd says visitor access to Emmanuel House will continue to be limited to support infection prevention strategies while balancing the urgent need to allow families to be together at end of life.

Hamilton Public Health says there were 488 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 in the city as of Sunday morning, with no new cases since Friday.

More than two-thirds of those cases, 71 per cent, are resolved.