Greetings!
Heart & Stroke is committed to the safety and well-being of everyone we work with. We are writing today regarding Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as it relates to your role as a Heart & Stroke instructor or course administrator.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) continues to assess the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low for Canada.
Please visit PHAC’s website
for the latest guidelines around gatherings and events. At this time, courses may continue as scheduled as we recognize the essential role of CPR in health care. Given you are in regular and close contact with course participants, we want to reinforce the importance of infection control practices and other best practices that will help reduce the risk of disease transmission.
Heart & Stroke has a detailed chapter about safety practices in the Instructor Resource for Resuscitation Programs (IRRP), which is found on the Resuscitation Portal
under the policy section in resources
. With heightened concerns about disease transmission, please review Section 3.1: Pre-Course Precautions (beginning on page 38 of the manual) and ensure compliance.
Follow the Heart & Stroke IRPP recommendations for equipment decontamination during training sessions with these additional requirements from the American Heart Association and Centres for Disease Control (CDC):
- Instructors should decontaminate the mannequin after each course participant practices or tests on the mannequin using an alcohol-based solution.
- Face shields should not be used, and direct mouth-to-mouth ventilations should not be practiced.
- Each course participant must be provided with a new or sanitized pocket mask and a one-way valve when practicing one-rescuer skills. Pocket masks should not be shared during the course.
- Bag-valve masks (BVMs) should be used when practicing two-rescuer skills, and participants should wear gloves and clean BVMs between practices with an alcohol-based solution. When possible, mannequins should be spaced at least 3 feet (1 meter) apart during training, based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on social distancing.
- Instructors and participants must wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after the course, and before and after snack or meal breaks during instruction.
These additional precautions should be practiced until further notice from Heart & Stroke.
As always, please take actions in your classrooms to help prevent disease and protect your health:
- Practice good hygiene, including handwashing as directed above.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, especially with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Cough and sneeze into your sleeve and not your hands.
- Stay home if you are sick to avoid spreading illness to others.
If you have recently travelled to an area on the travel advisory list for COVID-19 or have symptoms associated with COVID-19, please follow the guidance of PHAC and that of your healthcare provider. The latest information on travel advisories and what to do following travel is available on the PHAC website.
If your course participant communicates to you that he/she has travelled to affected areas or is feeling ill, please ask them to leave the course and ask that they follow PHAC guidelines and contact their health care provider.
A reminder that if a course participant is unable to attend the course due to being unwell, as an instructor, you are required to have a cancellation policy and to communicate this policy clearly. Given the current global situation, we ask that you strive to accommodate participants and prioritize health, safety, and public health practices.
As this situation is evolving rapidly, please be sure to
check the PHAC website
and your provincial and local public health authorities for the latest information on COVID-19. Heart & Stroke will update you if there are any changes in our operations during this situation.
Updates will be made on
the portal
by the end of the day.
Thank you,
Heart & Stroke Resuscitation Team
