Last week, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit put out a call for nurses to the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario to help with contact tracing, case management and the running of their Health Connection service.

“We have deployed almost all of our staff from their program delivery to COVID-19 response, whether it be case contact management, manning our Health Connection telephone lines or doing the epidemiology work or communications,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.

While Gardner said the current local COVID-19 numbers are starting to look like a plateau, the physical distancing practices and advice given by the health unit still needs to be adhered to in order to keep the virus at bay.

“It is prudent and wise for us to make sure we’re ready if we get more of a surge,” said Gardner.

Gardner said the health unit is planning to have the new nursing contingent ready to go by the end of April.

Contract tracing helps prevent the spread of COVID-19 by identifying contacts of people infected with the virus and monitoring them to ensure they are also staying in self-isolation.

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has redeployed more than 55 health-unit staff to their infectious disease team for this purpose, including the support of its associate medical officer of health, Dr. Colin Lee, who is an expert in infectious disease.

“Each case of infectious disease is unique and some can be complex, so his expertise and guidance is extremely valuable,” said Kathy Dermott, media co-ordinator for the local health unit.

When the health unit receives notification of a case of COVID-19, they conduct an investigation to try and determine where, when and from whom the case may have acquired the illness.

“This information is critical and necessary so that the team can then identify and follow up with known contacts of these new cases who may have potentially been exposed to the virus,” said Dermott.

The focus of the team is to determine who should be directed to self-isolate.

“We also investigate the patients’ contacts in the community and provide appropriate follow-up with people who may have been in contact with them,” Dermott said. “Follow up also includes routine calls to cases and those in self-isolation to do a health check in, make sure they are adhering to requirements and to answer any questions or concerns they may have.”

Nurses will also be deployed to assist with the Health Connection telephone service. The 39 redeployed staff from other departments within the health unit have enabled the program to expand its hours to seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

For more information about the SMDHU’s Health Connection line, click here.