COVID-19 COMMUNIQUE – March 19 2020

A message from the Ontario Ventilator Equipment Pool (VEP)

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve around the world; the Ontario Ventilator Equipment Pool is monitoring the situation closely and taking precautionary measures to protect our employees, our clients and our community.

The following is a summary of the actions taken by the VEP to date. This communique will be updated, as necessary, to keep you informed. Please continue to check our website for updates.

In response to the COVID-19 issue, we have limited our office to walk-in traffic to those with scheduled appointments only. Clients are asked to call the office at 1-800-633-8977 to schedule an appointment. Active screening is performed prior to scheduling an appointment and again on-site.

We ask that courier and delivery personnel comply with our screening assessment tool when arriving at our facility.

Our plan is to continue to provide service. Our business office remains open weekdays from 09:00am to 5:00pm. Our after-hours telephone troubleshooting service will continue. Respiratory therapists are available 24 hours per day to take calls, troubleshoot equipment issues, and provide education, consultation and follow-up.

Our delivery partners continue to provide service and VEP will continue to ship equipment and supplies as required. We have augmented our delivery service to include additional couriers.

Our infection control practices have been heightened to include an enhanced quarantine period for equipment in addition to rigorous equipment cleaning and disinfection.

In order to protect both patients and healthcare professionals, the VEP has made the difficult decision to suspend in-person home visits effective 2020 March 19 until further notice. Other models of care provision are available to the client including virtual visits using videoconferencing, planned telephone follow-up, educational videos on the VEP website and 24-hour telephone access to our respiratory therapists.

Please reach out to me directly should you have any questions or concerns.

Regina Pizzuti, RRT, Manager
Ontario Ventilator Equipment Pool
1-800-633-8977