Maintaining contact with the children, youth and families we serve will continue to be an essential function for PEI (and all home visiting/parent education) providers. As such, we thought the following information would be helpful:
- Staff conducting any visits with youth/young adults/families or community partners in homes or offices should contact them by phone prior to in-person contact to inquire if there are currently any illnesses. If so, consider conducting client contact through alternate means such as phone, FaceTime or other virtual platforms that work for your agency.
- When planning for or at the time of a home visit, if a client or family member reports being sick, staff must inform their supervisor and discuss plan for alternate arrangements to maintain client contact until all members of the household are well (e.g. at least 24 hours with no fever, vomiting, etc.).
- To prevent stigma and discrimination, do not make exposure risk determinations based on race, ethnicity or country of origin and be sure to maintain confidentiality of people with illness and confirmed COVID-19.
- Wash hands or use hand sanitizer before and after home visits or meetings in addition to washing hands frequently.
- Limit physical touch (e.g. – shaking hands) with others.
- Continue to offer or coordinate needed supports, such as needed financial supports, purchase of groceries through gift cards (e.g. – food, cleaning supplies, disinfectant, etc.) and other standard purchasing protocols.
- Continue to share information about other available community resources, information and referral networks, hotlines, etc.
