Home Instead's COVID-19 Action Plan

The health, safety and comfort of our clients, staff, CAREGivers and community remains Home Instead ’s top priority. COVID-19 continues to be a source of concern for everyone, with ever-shifting information creating uncertainty and concern.

In March, Sonoma County issued a shelter-in-place recommendation. This recommendation also provided certain exceptions for Essential services such as In-Home care. With these critical exceptions in place, Home Instead will be able to continue providing care without disruption to your regular schedule.

As a reminder, our CAREGivers have and will continue to receive ongoing training covering the necessary and special precautions they must take to protect you, themselves and others during this health situation. Our training is based on the CDC and WHO’s latest guidance for preventing the spread of illness, the foremost being handwashing, staying home when sick and following standard precautions when providing care.

Additionally, we are providing PPE’s for all of our employees, such as face Mask, Hand Sanitizer, and gloves.

We are working tirelessly to stay up to date with the most accurate information, and we will maintain our vigilance and keep our clients and their families informed as this situation evolves.

Your health, safety, and well-being are important to us. Please rest assured we are taking every precaution as we do our part in protecting and maintaining the safety of our clients’ homes.

Based on the current information, Home Instead of Sonoma Valley has implemented the following oversight program to minimize our employee and Client’s exposure to COVID-19. It should be noted that Home Instead of Sonoma Valley has implemented several policies and procedures to minimize the risk of exposure to our CAREGivers and Clients but cannot guarantee that an inadvertent exposure event outside our control would not ultimately lead to infection. We are also not taking on any clients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Step #1: Daily Evaluation for “Fitness of Duty”

Currently our time keeping software requires a CAREGiver to complete a “fitness for duty” questionnaire no more than once every 23 hours. Questionnaires can be completed when clocking-in, or in advance of the day by clicking on the link sent in their shift reminder. The questionnaire consists of the following questions:

1. Are you experiencing a fever of greater than 100.0°F, dry cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, headaches, chills or any other symptom of COVID-19?
2. Have you been exposed to an individual without source controls that has tested positive for COVID-19 or has been experiencing the symptoms above within the last 14-18 days?
3. Have you been exposed within the last 14-18 days without source controls to some one that has traveled abroad or to a high-risk area?

Step #2: Employee Screening by Office Staff

In addition to this automated evaluation, our Home Instead Sonoma Valley office staff will randomly reach out to a specific number of employees per day to receive verbal acknowledgement to the same questions outlined in Step #1 in addition to:

• Are you using source controls when working with your clients?
• Office staff will remind employees of our policy that should they need to remove their mask at any time during their shift, they must practice physical distancing from their client, perform hand hygiene, and disinfect high-touch surfaces.
• Do you need any additional PPE? Free PPE is available to all employees at the office for pick up.

Step #3: In-Person Screenings

Client Care Coordinators or Lead CAREGivers will be dispatched into the field or use scheduled in-person Quality Assurance visits to confirm use of PPE, perform a temperature screening, confirm that the employee is not experiencing symptoms and offer additional PPE if needed.

Step #4: COVID-19 Testing

Home Instead of Sonoma County employees are encouraged to take advantage of the free coronavirus testing provided by local authorities. During a Step #2 touch point, interested employees will be assisted with scheduling a drive-thru test at one of the local testing sites.

Please note that Home Instead of Sonoma County must comply with all Local, State and Federal laws when managing employee health information and must keep an employee’s test results confidential but will ensure that any employee that tests positive for COVID-19 is placed on leave for the prescribed isolation period should the need arise.