COVID-19 Information

Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) infection prevention and control protocols are in place at all times and continue to be heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals are reminded to please continue to monitor their own health, practice proper hand hygiene often, wear a mask, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth and to practice physical distancing.

Continue to check www.ckha.on.ca and follow CKHA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn to ensure you have the most up-to-date information. 

Active COVID-19 Outbreaks

• Medicine B Unit, Chatham Site (Declared September 19, 2023)
  Care partners and visitors will still be permitted to the unit and are highly encouraged to wear a mask and practice consistent hand hygiene. 

Masking Policy

Based upon the most recent Public Health of Ontario guidance, CKHA has amended its masking policy for patients, visitors, staff, physicians and volunteers who enter a CKHA facility effective Monday, June 12, 2023 at 12:01 a.m. Click here to learn more.

COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions

Will you be visiting CKHA or attending an appointment? Please click here to view our COVID-19 FAQs.

Chatham-Kent COVID, Cold, and Flu Care Clinic

As of April 1, 2023, the Chatham-Kent COVID, Cold and Flu Care Clinic (formally the COVID-19 Assessment Centre) located at 10 Grand Avenue West in Chatham has ceased its operations. The decision comes following a significant drop in the number of individuals accessing the clinic as COVID-19 numbers continue to trend down.

Patients can still receive care for COVID-19 symptoms from local Family Health Team Physicians and Nurse Practitioner Led Clinics as well as primary healthcare providers and walk-in and urgent care clinics in the community.

Click HERE for the most up-to-date testing recommendations, COVID-19 testing locations or to access antiviral treatment.

Visitors & Care Partners

CKHA welcomes care partners and visitors of patients in a phased approach that is balanced with the need to ensure physical distancing and reduced numbers of people within the hospital. The health and safety of staff, patients and the community will continue to be priority. The presence of visitors and care partners at CKHA will be informed by the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in the community. At this time, only essential care partners are permitted at CKHA. Care partner/visiting privileges are subject to change without notice. 

To view the latest visitor policy, click here.  Please speak to your care team to discuss exceptions to the care partners plan.

Resources

Ministry of Health: https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov
World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
Public Health COVID-19 Updates: https://ckphu.com/2020/01/covid19/

*To request more information, residents are asked to call CK Public Health’s COVID-19 intake line at 519.355.1071 x 1900 or email at covid19@chatham-kent.ca

Community Artwork

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve received an outpouring of support from our community whether that be through artwork, encouraging messages, hand-sewn masks or donated meals for our staff and physicians.  It is this strong showing of support, encouragement and community love during these unprecedented times that have kept us striving to provide compassionate, safe and high quality care to our patients and their families.

In particular, during these past months, many beautiful pieces of art work with hopeful and inspiring messages were sent our way.  We chose to display this art at what was our dedicated staff entrance at the outset of the pandemic at our Chatham Site’s North entrance and at the Emergency Department entrance at our Wallaceburg Site.  Every day, our staff and physicians were greeted by this art work and their accompanying messages as they entered the hospital to begin their shifts.

One piece of art work in particular will commemorate this time in our lives for years to come.  We have permanently displayed a piece given to us by local artist and photographer, Melissa Doyle.  This piece of art was originally created as part of another community project that was intended to show appreciation for all essential workers at the hospital.  With consideration to the public health restrictions and safety measures, the project took a turn, and a thank you video was made instead of these community members physically showing up to our hospital sites to show support.

“As a part of the big THANK YOU I took the job of creating the heart art.  It made sense to me that I would bring my art to the hospital for people to experience and appreciate up close and often,” said Melissa. “This was very quickly put together by clipping out phrases and words that were in magazines that I had already in my home that happened to be fairly vintage, and yet, every single bit of the message was there and completely perfect for this piece.  This proves that courage, chaos, fear, and LOVE are timeless.  You would have to stop and really collect the information on this art to fully appreciate the entire message, which is also life in a nutshell.”

Melissa’s piece has been installed at our Chatham Site; it can be found on the wall near our North entrance.  You can also see the piece in opening of the community thank you video which was organized by Elisha Banks with the help of many friends and community members.  To view the video, click here.  

“I’m honoured that this is being seen and will be remembered for what it represented during a very chaotic and scary time for everyone, and hopefully it keeps us in gratitude to not become complacent for whatever the future brings,” said Melissa.

Knowing that every piece of art work will forever hold a special place in our hearts at CKHA, we’ve set up a digital album that is available to the public. The album can be accessed here.