Michael Garron Hospital launches proactive, community-based back-to-school COVID-19 support plan for East Toronto

Take-home testing kits, virtual forum for educators and family-friendly assessment zone among strategies being implemented to help ensure safe return to classrooms

(September 7, 2021) Toronto — Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) is implementing a number of proactive, community-based strategies to help ensure a safe return to in-person learning for more than 170 schools and child care centres in East Toronto. These strategies aim to support schools and child care centres in MGH’s catchment area in their ability to operate safely and quickly respond to suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The strategies are being carried out by MGH’s School Outreach Team (Dr. Janine McCready, infectious diseases physician; Jonah Chevrier, infection control practitioner; Brad Lucifora, clinical nurse; and Kayla Chow, project manager) with support from four school boards, Toronto Public Health (TPH) and community partners as part of a back-to-school COVID-19 support plan for East Toronto. This helps ensure local children, families, teachers and administrative staff have the support and resources they need for a safe return to classrooms amid a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The back-to-school COVID-19 support plan builds on tactics MGH’s School Outreach Team employed last fall and earlier this year in anticipation of returns to in-person learning, following COVID-19 outbreaks that led to the temporary closure of a number of schools in East Toronto.

The plan includes the following elements:

• Toronto East School Support (TESS) forum
• Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Champion program
• Take-home COVID-19 testing kits
• COVID-19 Outreach Centres
• Paediatric Emergency Department (ED) COVID-19 Assessment Zone
• Wraparound supports for confirmed positive cases
• Pop-up vaccine clinics

Toronto East School Support (TESS) forum

MGH is partnering with East Toronto Family Practice Network (EasT-FPN) to relaunch the Toronto East School Support (TESS) forum. The TESS forum is a virtual town hall series where principals, teachers and child care workers in MGH’s catchment area are able to ask questions related to COVID-19 and safety. They hear answers from Dr. Janine McCready, infectious diseases physician at MGH, in real-time.

This allows local educators to receive medical expertise and guidance in a safe, accessible way so they may apply guidelines from school boards and government bodies in a manner that’s effective and makes sense in their local settings.

MGH and EasT-FPN originally launched the TESS forum in August 2020 for the 2020–21 school year. The partners are reintroducing the forum to help ensure educators have the tools they need for safe in-person learning amid a fourth wave of the pandemic. In addition, physicians and nurses from MGH will participate in other community town halls organized by partners throughout the fall, including Health Access Thorncliffe Park’s (HATP) Back-to-School Forum for families in Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Champion program

MGH’s School Outreach Team is once again partnering with select priority schools and child care centres in East Toronto to offer an IPAC Champion program.

The program involves educators and administrative staff learning about IPAC best practices and principles so they’re able to become advocates or “champions” of IPAC. This allows these individuals to pass this knowledge onto their colleagues so, together, they may develop and improve strategies that further prevent and limit the spread of COVID-19 at schools and child care centres.

This IPAC Champion program is adapted from a similar program that MGH conducted with long-term care homes in East Toronto during spring 2020. It was piloted at Grenoble Public School in January 2021.

Take-home COVID-19 testing kits

MGH is once again offering take-home COVID-19 testing kits to all 112 public schools in its catchment area. In addition, MGH’s School Outreach Team is proactively reaching out to independent schools and child care centres. Any of these settings that express interest will also receive the kits.

These take-home testing kits are oral-nasal swabs that can be collected by staff, children and families at home. They can be dropped off at the MGH COVID-19 Assessment Centre or any of East Toronto Health Partners’ (ETHP) COVID-19 Outreach Centres for processing. This helps make COVID-19 testing as low-barrier as possible for staff, children and families who are experiencing symptoms or may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The take-home testing kits contain an oral-nasal test. The oral-nasal test involves rubbing the inside of the mouth and the front of the nose with a swab for less than five seconds. It is less invasive than the nasopharyngeal (NP) swab that is commonly used for COVID-19 tests. This helps increase the likelihood that children and youth will have pleasant testing experiences. The oral-nasal test is a laboratory-validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, not a rapid antigen test. This means a second test is not needed to confirm a positive result. 

MGH is distributing take-home testing kits to schools and child care centres in its catchment area before school starts. These take-home testing kits are used when someone has symptoms of COVID-19 or a class/cohort is sent home after another individual in the class/cohort has tested positive for COVID-19.

The turnaround time for test results is approximately 24 to 72 hours. This reduces time for testing for staff, children and families. It also allows MGH to quickly find positive cases before COVID-19 can spread and cause additional exposures to families or other staff and children in schools and child care centres.

MGH distributed take-home COVID-19 testing kits to staff, students and families at select schools in East Toronto as part of a pilot project in February 2021. Similar pilot projects were also led by the Hospital for Sick Children and Women’s College Hospital in Toronto at the time. This school year, the three hospitals are distributing take-home COVID-19 testing kits to the 1,200-plus schools and child care centres in their catchment areas with the support of the Ministry of Health.

COVID-19 Outreach Centres

Working with ETHP, MGH is operating COVID-19 Outreach Centres in priority neighbourhoods in East Toronto. These Centres offer walk-in child-friendly COVID-19 testing, assessments, vaccinations and other supports to help make these resources as low-barrier as possible.

They’re staffed by local family physicians and nurses who patients can trust to share reliable, evidence-based information about COVID-19 and vaccines. Take-home COVID-19 testing kits may also be dropped off at these sites for processing.

In addition, children who visit the COVID-19 Outreach Centres receive an oral-nasal test. The oral-nasal test involves rubbing the inside of the mouth and the front of the nose with a swab for less than five seconds. It is less invasive than the nasopharyngeal (NP) swab that is commonly used for COVID-19 tests. This helps increase the likelihood that children and youth will have pleasant testing experiences. The oral-nasal test is a laboratory-validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, not a rapid antigen test. This means a second test is not needed to confirm a positive result. Results should be available within 24 to 72 hours. This is the same test included in MGH’s take-home COVID-19 testing kits.

COVID-19 Outreach Centres are now open in Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park, Taylor-Massey (Crescent Town), Warden Woods, East York and South Riverdale. ETHP will open additional sites where need is demonstrated. See locations, hours and services of COVID-19 Outreach Centres.

Paediatric Emergency Department (ED) COVID-19 Assessment Zone

MGH has reopened its Paediatric ED COVID-19 Assessment Zone. It offers a family-friendly space for COVID-19 testing, as well as expedited paediatric ED assessments, for symptomatic children and families. It is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. by appointment. The entrance is located off of Mortimer Avenue to the immediate right of the ED entrance. It is separate from MGH’s general COVID-19 Assessment Centre.

Appointments are available online up to 48 hours in advance for symptomatic children and their families. (Children must be at least four months old and under 18 years of age.) Individuals who need more than one appointment (e.g. for additional family members) may book one appointment and bring up to four family members to be tested at the same time if they meet the province's testing criteria.

Children who visit MGH's Paediatric ED COVID-19 Assessment Zone and general COVID-19 Assessment Centre receive an oral-nasal test. The oral-nasal test involves rubbing the inside of the mouth and the front of the nose with a swab for less than five seconds. It is less invasive than the nasopharyngeal (NP) swab that is commonly used for COVID-19 tests. This helps increase the likelihood that children and youth will have pleasant testing experiences. The oral-nasal test is a laboratory-validated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, not a rapid antigen test. This means a second test is not needed to confirm a positive result. Results should be available within 24 to 72 hours. This is the same test included in MGH’s take-home COVID-19 testing kits.

MGH’s Paediatric ED COVID-19 Assessment Zone originally operated from September 2020 to June 2021. It has been relaunched to accommodate an expected increased need for testing and assessments in East Toronto ahead of and during back-to-school.

The Paediatric ED COVID-19 Assessment Zone will eventually evolve into a dedicated Paediatric ED that offers a family-friendly space for children in East Toronto to receive evidence-based paediatric care. This will improve the patient experience for paediatric populations while diverting patients from the ED to help reduce wait times for all demographics. The space is being designed with input from local children and families. It is expected to launch in fall 2021.

Wraparound supports for confirmed positive cases

MGH’s infection prevention and control (IPAC) team is following up with all students, teachers and administrative staff in its catchment area who test positive for COVID-19 at any of its testing sites or through its take-home testing kits. The team offers symptom management and wraparound supports to those who need it. These supports include connections to primary care through EasT-FPN and self-isolation resources like grocery delivery and governmental financial supports.

In addition, MGH is working with local schools and child care centres to distribute take-home COVID-19 testing kits to exposed classes/cohorts or to organize other low-barrier testing solutions. MGH’s Virtual Ward is also exploring expanding its COVID-19 clinical follow-up support to individuals under 18 years of age who are at higher risk of complications. This work builds on supports MGH and its community partners have been providing to local residents who test positive for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.

Pop-up vaccine clinics

In collaboration with ETHP, MGH is continuing to operate pop-up vaccine clinics in East Toronto. Many of these clinics will continue to take place at schools to help ensure vaccines are as low-barrier as possible for staff, children and families. These pop-up vaccine clinics offer first and second doses by walk-in to everyone born in 2009 or earlier (i.e. turning age 12 or older this year). See upcoming pop-up vaccine clinics in East Toronto.

Quotes

“As staff, children and families prepare to head back to classrooms in East Toronto amid a fourth wave of COVID-19, we want to make sure we’re there to support them. By working collaboratively with the schools and child care centres in our catchment area — many of whom we’ve developed close relationships with over the past year — we can help prevent and detect positive COVID-19 cases early, stopping further infections and outbreaks. This will help keep schools and child care centres open for longer so children and youth can continue to receive the in-person learning that is so critical to their health, happiness and well-being,” said Dr. Janine McCready, infectious diseases physician and lead of the School Outreach Team at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH). 

“Similar to staff at schools and child care centres, family physicians have been on the frontlines of this pandemic. Our patients have consistently trusted us to provide evidence-based answers to questions about COVID-19, vaccines and safety. We’re thrilled to continue working with MGH to support our local school and child care communities as they prepare for back-to-school through our Toronto East School Support (TESS) forum and by ensuring families have easy access to testing, vaccines and wraparound supports, including primary care,” said Dr. Catherine Yu, family physician with East Toronto Family Practice Network (EasT-FPN).

“During the 2020–21 school year, MGH’s School Outreach Team was instrumental in helping to keep our staff and students safe. They’ve provided us with child-sized masks, distributed take-home testing kits and served as a reliable source for navigating guidelines from school boards and government bodies. During the summer, when children and youth became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, MGH also worked with us to conduct pop-up vaccine clinics in our gymnasium so our students and families could easily access vaccines. We’re grateful to hear MGH is once again lending a hand to local schools so we can build on the knowledge and foundation we’ve established to help ensure a safe and healthy school year for our community,” said Mikki Hymus, principal at Grenoble Public School.

About Michael Garron Hospital
Nestled in the heart of East Toronto, MGH is a vibrant community teaching hospital serving more than 400,000 people in 22 distinct neighbourhoods. For 90 years, MGH has delivered high-quality, patient-centred healthcare services to families along the continuum of care, from welcoming a new life to facing end-of-life. MGH has continually renewed its commitment to community by adapting its programs and services to meet the evolving needs of the diverse population it serves. MGH is a leading full-service hospital with strong community and research partners, including the University of Toronto. Read more: www.tehn.ca