Latest COVID-19 Updates

Last Updated: Saturday, November 17, 2022

Boomerang Health continues to monitor the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, the surge in other respiratory illnesses, and is taking necessary precautions to protect everyone’s health and safety.

In March 2020, the provincial government declared a State of Emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time and based on the guidance from the Ministry of Health and SickKids, we put contingency plans in place to ensure that we kept our patients, families, and staff safe and healthy. All of our rehabilitation services, and the majority of our physician services, switched over to virtual care. We also significantly reduced the number of individuals in our clinic to adhere to physical distancing guidelines, all while remaining operational and continuing to provide comprehensive care.

In May 2020, the province of Ontario announced directives regarding its re-opening strategy, and authorized the restart to deferred, non-essential, and elective services. As such we continued to offer virtual services and also resumed some in-person appointments. In addition, we updated our clinic policies and procedures and took extensive measures to ensure that our clinic was a safe space that adhered to all mandated infection control and prevention standards.

Throughout the winter and spring of 2021, another provincial emergency was declared, and a stay-at-home order remained in effect. Due to the essential nature of our services, our clinic operations were not impacted. We remained open and continued to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols and procedures.

As of September 2021, we implemented a mandatory vaccination policy for all staff, learners, volunteers, and contractors.

In December 2021, the Omicron variant promoted the province of Ontario to reinstate capacity limits. Due to the essential nature of our services, our clinic operations were not impacted. While we were limiting the number of people in the clinic, and offering virtual care, where possible, we remained open and continued to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols and procedures.

As of March 21, 2022, the Ontario government announced the end of mandatory masking except for health-care facilities, long-term care and high-risk congregate care settings, and public transit. They also announced a plan to phase down all mandates and directives by April 30. With our patients’ and families’ vaccination status either being unknown or ineligible, Boomerang Health continued to ensure that the health and safety of our community and staff remained our number one priority. As such, there was no change to our mandatory masking and screening policies.

As of June 11, 2022, most of the province’s remaining provincial masking requirements expired. However, Boomerang Health continued to ensure that the health and safety of our community and staff remained our number one priority. As such, until today, there is no change to our mandatory masking and screening policies.

Rehabilitation Services Update 

Our Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy, Massage Therapy, and Brain and Mental Health departments are now offering in-person sessions. Nutrition services are remaining exclusively virtual. In order to meet current infection control and prevention standards, we are continuing with virtual services. Whenever required, initial assessments and appointments are conducted virtually, and once completed, an informed decision regarding the need for in-person sessions is made by the clinician. 

Physician Services (Primary Care & Specialists) Update

Our physician services are being offered virtually and in-clinic. We remain open for in-clinic primary care appointments, including well baby check-ups, vaccinations, and are virtually pre-assessing sick visits. Kindly note that we currently are unable to stock the grade 7 and 8 school vaccinations (Menactra, HepB, Gardasil). You may reach out to your child’s school or contact your local public health department for any upcoming vaccination clinics. Please call the clinic at (905) 553-3155 ext. 300 to book an appointment.

Important Note: We are currently experiencing higher volumes of phone calls due to the surge in respiratory illnesses. We kindly ask you to leave a voicemail when calling the clinic. If the nature of the appointment is not urgent, families can expect to hear from us within 1-2 business days.

Clinic Precautionary Measures and Policies

• Screening: All individuals scheduled to visit the clinic will be pre-screened on the phone and are expected to self-screen again prior to entering the clinic. Our staff will continue to monitor the health status of all individuals while in the clinic. If a change occurs, our screening protocols will be re-initiated.
• Physical Distancing: A minimum of 2 meters is required between all individuals, and signs have been added to the floor to assist with adherence. Reception area seating is now limited and spaced out, and glass barriers have been added to both reception desks.
• Limiting Visitors to the Clinic: Only one caregiver (no siblings) is preferred to accompany children up to 12 years old to their appointments. Children 13 years and older are encouraged to be dropped off at the clinic.
• Implementing Staggered Appointment Start/End Times: As a way to limit traffic in the clinic and promote physical distancing, we will stagger appointment start and end times.
• Adhering to Infection Control and Prevention: All visitors to the clinic (with the exception of children under 2 years of age) are required to wear a mask. Clinic staff will also wear masks at all times. Personal Protective Equipment (i.e., gloves, goggles, face shields, gowns) may be worn by clinic staff depending on the nature of the appointment. In addition, multiple hand washing, and sanitization stations continue to be available throughout the clinic.  
• Cleaning/Sanitizing: An increased cleaning and sanitizing schedule is prepared in accordance with Ministry standards. We have removed items that cannot be properly disinfected including reception area iPads and have added air filtration systems throughout the clinic.

Check out our social media pages (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn) to see our regular updates, including messages from our team, activity ideas and resources.

If you have any questions related to your child’s health, please visit AboutKidsHealth, SickKids’ trusted health education website for children, youth, and their caregivers. Their COVID-19 Learning Hub has some excellent information.

These are challenging times and we’re learning right alongside you as we navigate through them together. We are proud of the informed and swift decisions we are making. Rest assured that we’ll always do what’s in the best interest of our Boomerang Health community – everyone’s health and safety is our top priority.

Please continue to check this page for updates.