Toronto (April 30, 2003) - The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute continues to be SARS-free.
With the lower level of risk of SARS and increased level of confidence, Toronto Rehab continues to move ahead to gradually resume normal patient care services while maintaining measures to keep our hospital SARS-free. Effective today, we are easing some of the restrictions that were put in place at the end of March. We are making these changes after consultation with our colleagues at other hospitals. Some precautionary measures are still in place at Toronto Rehab, and continued vigilance is extremely important to protect our patients, visitors and staff.
As of Thursday, May 1:
- Masks are no longer required by visitors who pass SARS screening at entry points to our buildings. Screeners will continue to wear protective gear.
- Business visitors will be allowed to resume activities at Toronto Rehab, provided they pass SARS screening.
- Visitors are asked to sign in when they enter our buildings and to wear an ID badge.
- Cardiac and many other outpatient services are open: some programs continue to gear up to full capacity. Outpatients will be advised as to when appointments or programs resume.
- Each patient may have one visitor per day. To manage screening, visitors are asked not to arrive between 2:30 and 4 pm daily. Patients who are critically ill may have multiple visitors at any time of day or night.
- Inpatients and outpatients involved in existing research studies can now continue with these projects. Researchers may recruit patients for new research studies.
- Normal student activity is resuming.
- Volunteers are not yet returning to the hospital. However, the Annual General Meeting of the Toronto Rehab Volunteer Association on May 10 will proceed as planned at the Holiday Inn on King.
We thank everybody for their patience and cooperation in helping to keep Toronto Rehab SARS-free. We will continue to update you as we implement further changes.
