Personal Protective Equipment | April 15, 2020

TO: All Island Health Leaders

FROM: Victoria Schmid, Executive Director, Quality, Safety and Improvement


We want to acknowledge the difficulty in the past few weeks related to changing direction for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use. Ensuring that Island Health care teams are protected is a priority and we have been working hard to ensure we have an adequate supply of PPE to support best practices around utilization.

Thank you for being patient with us as we navigate provincial direction and trying to keep in step with other health authorities.

Please read our new direction around PPE – which advises all staff with direct contact with patients to wear a surgical/procedure mask during their shift. This information will be shared with all staff in today’s CEO/CMO update.

What we have learned through this pandemic is the importance of masks to protect others, and in health care, that means protecting our patients and clients from contracting COVID-19, recognizing that many of them are more susceptible to this disease.

As we continue to learn more about COVID-19, there may be further changes to PPE.  We will provide you with as much notice as possible.