DEAR SYNERGY FRIENDS AND FAMILY,
I hope that you stay safe and try to make the best possible of a challenging situation. Our medical office, pharmacy and the dental clinic are open and operating in the limits imposed by the regulatory bodies. If your call is not answered right away, leave a message and a team member will contact you shortly.
The weather is nice, keeping our spirits up. Canada is doing well comparing with other countries in containing the spread. A vaccine is hopefully underway. Until then we want to provide you some instructions from our training in infection control to protect you as much as possible.
I see a lot of people doing groceries and some wear gloves and or wear masks but very few actually wear them well and get a benefit from them.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS:
Consider that everything you come in contact with is contaminated! Always think where the virus can present: in the air – 2 m surrounding a person, a door handle, the grocery cart handle, the actual groceries, cash or the debit machine pin pads, buttons on elevators, shoes. Entry points on our bodies are: airways – nose and mouth, plus our eyes. Think about preventing the virus from reaching these gate ways. For the mouth – wash your hands and foods, for your nose – use a mask, for your eyes use glasses.
HAND HYGIENE:
every time you touch an object outside your house consider your hands contaminated. Washing your hands often is the best thing to prevent the spread. As long as you don’t have open wounds the virus cannot penetrate an intact skin. When shopping, clean the cart handle with an adequate sanitation wipe, reducing the risk of contaminating the groceries you are about to buy. In addition, before touching your car door sanitize your hands. Before touching your face, sanitize your hands. If you can’t, use a clean napkin/tissue and use the untouched area.
GLOVES:
if you have a sore, an open wound you should consider using gloves. If not, the moment you touch with your gloves a “dirty” area the gloves are considered infected and whatever you touch afterwards becomes infected. So weather you touch an apple with you bare hands or with gloves that you touched the cart before, the apple is considered infected. ie If you wear gloves to the grocery store, pick out your foods, drive back home wearing the same gloves; your gloves, your food, your vehicle has been in contact with everything on that trip. In the clinic we change gloves with every patient, if we need to touch common areas or leave the room we take the gloves off so we don’t spread the germs. Bottom line is hand hygiene is more important than wearing gloves.
MASKS:
are actually your main protection when in public, but wear them properly. There are different types of masks available and they will all protect you as long as you wear them properly. You do not need an N95 mask unless you are in direct contact with a sick person and there are aerosols produced.
1. Examine the mask: there’s an inside and an outside part to the mask. Usually the inside is the white part and the outside has a different colour. The loops (strings) will always be attached on the outside of the mask. Always use the proper side. Use clean hands when handling it. Do not touch the inside part of the mask and consider the out side being contaminated.
2. Place it properly over your nose and mouth covering as much as possible from your face. Pinch the nose part. If you have glasses put them on now. Do not move your mask around, don’t pull it off your nose, don’t pull it down under you chin (your chin is considered contaminated and you just swiped it with the clean side of your mask).
3.When you take it off use the loops to handle it. Dispose of and wash your hands immediately before touching anything else.
GLASSES:
Are you lucky enough to wear glasses? If not use any glasses. The more they cover from your face the better they are. Keep in mind, don’t rub your eyes with you “dirty” hands!
We will post on our Synergy Centre Instagram and Facebook short videos on how to use the masks and gloves. If you have any questions or you have topic that you want us to talk about send us a reply.
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay positive, your Synergy Team is with you as always!
