At Hillgreen Oncology Acupuncture & Herbs, patient safety is a top priority. As we work with many cancer patients and immunocompromised people, we do everything we can to ensure you feel safe at our clinics. 

How are we keeping everyone safe at the clinic?

• Masking, screening, hand, and shoe hygiene: Everyone who enters the building will be screened for any symptoms, COVID exposure, and will have their temperature taken. You will have to sanitize your hands on arrival. At Midtown location, you’ll be given shoe covers to wear at the clinic. You’ll be asked to wear a mask the whole time you are in the clinic, to protect yourself and others. We’re doing tongue diagnosis via photos whenever possible, so that you don’t have to remove your mask.
• Physical distancing in the waiting room and common areas:
  • For the Midtown Toronto and Vaughan locations, you may enter the waiting room, but please maintain physical distancing. Your temperature will also be screened before entry into the clinic. 
  • For the Northumberland County location, it’s a solo office, so you should not be inside at the same time as any other patients. If you arrive early, please knock and be prepared to wait outside if we’re not yet done with the previous patient.
  • Accompanying visitors are only allowed if needed for mobility or language reasons, and will also be screened before entering

• Personal Protective Equipment: We have gone to great lengths to source appropriate PPE. Staff will be wearing masks (N95 or ASTM Level 2-3), face shields (as needed according to our judgment, but we can put it on at your request as well), clinic shoes, and scrubs. Gloves will be worn as needed, and otherwise we follow hand-washing and Clean Needle Technique routines strictly.

• Sanitation, disinfection and ventilation: We go above and beyond the legal requirements for cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting between each and every patient. We use an approved, hospital-grade disinfectant on the treatment tables and all surfaces that patients may touch. We use HEPA filters to improve air exchange. Washrooms are cleaned as disinfected regularly as well.
• Clean Needle Technique: As licensed acupuncturists, we follow CNT, a standard technique for infection control during acupuncture.

• Linens and laundry: Dirty linens will be kept securely. Linens are always changed between patients, and laundered in hot water according to public health recommendations.

• Contactless payment: Many people now prefer contactless payment methods. Please speak to your practitioner or the receptionists to place your credit card on file for future billings. This way you can just exit immediately after your treatment.
• Keeping ourselves safe and healthy: While it is not required for patients, all our practitioner are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19. We are all taking great care at home to maintain our own health using self-care measures, physical distancing, and staying home as much as possible. We screen ourselves daily for symptoms and temperature and get tested for COVID as appropriate. If you have more questions or concerns about this, please ask your practitioner.

• Clinic Safety Plan: Your safety is our first priority. We have attended professional development webinars on clinic safety during COVID-19, and read all Ministry of Health, Public Health, and CTCMPAO guidelines thoroughly, creating a 20 page procedures document our clinic will follow. We have also completed Public Health Ontario’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) trainings
• Clinic safety meetings:  We will also keep having regular safety protocol meetings at both locations, to ensure everyone using the clinic is on the same page.
• Clinic environment: We are working with our landlords at all locations to make changes to promote physical distancing and easy disinfection.

Booking Your Appointment

• New patients: All new patients have the choice of having their initial appointment done in person or by phone/online for safety reasons. Our 15 minute free consultations are usually done by phone/online to save you the trouble of travelling to the clinic.
• Phone/online treatment options: If you haven’t seen us in 12+ weeks, please consider booking a 15-30 minute session by phone/online before your next acupuncture appointment, so that we can get caught up before you enter the clinic. Phone/online sessions your TCM assessments and treatment plan in greater detail. We’ve found many patients benefit from the phone/online sessions we’ve had, using self-acupressure protocols, herbs, nutrition, Qi Gong or meditation recommendations, self-care homework, measuring progress, etc.

Preparing For Your Appointment

• Screening: We will be diligently screening patients for possible COVID-19 symptoms, when you book, and right before you come to the clinic. Please click on all the automated emails from our software, as they may contain important COVID-19 screening questions or other information. You will have to complete the screening before every acupuncture appointment (sorry for all the emails, but it helps protect us all!)
• Rescheduling due to COVID screening: If you are feeling ill or answer YES to any of the screening questions, please contact us ASAP to discuss canceling your appointment or switching to a phone/online appointment. Complete the online self-assessment tool and then follow the recommended steps for further assessment and possible testing. 
• Bring: Mask. Optional: pen, water bottle.
• Masks: Bring a clean mask (worn no longer than 1 hour) when you come into the clinic and wear it the whole time you’re there. It should fit comfortably over your nose, mouth and chin. A cloth mask is fine. If you forget, some masks will be available at the clinic. 
• Clothes: If you wish to be extra-safe, you can bring a plastic bag and extra change of clothes. At the end of the treatment, you can place your treatment clothes in the bag and seal it to bring home to wash in hot water.
• Visitors: Do not bring any visitor with you to the appointment unless necessary (i.e. for mobility or language requirements). If you bring someone, they will also need to be screened before entering
• Washroom: Consider using the washroom before you leave the house. Washrooms are open and are cleaned regularly, this is just to help reduce the number of people using them and keep you as safe as possible.
• Important notices: Please click on all the email reminders you receive from us. These may contain important COVID screening questionnaires or other reminders before your appointments.
• Tongue pictures:If you can, snap photos of your tongue before each visit, and email them to us (tongue@hillgreen.ca). Not only does that save the need to remove your mask in the clinic, but it also allows us to see the tongue first thing in the morning in its most natural state. For more details on how to take the tongue pictures, click here.

Arriving for your appointment

• Hand hygiene: We’ll remind you to clean your hands by rubbing for at least 20 seconds, whenever you enter and exit the clinic, after your treatment, after using the washroom, and after you touch a common surface (e.g. door handle, elevator button, etc.). Hand sanitizer will be available.
• In the clinic: Try to avoid touching your face, eyes, nose, and mouth, if possible. Please cover your mouth for the occasional cough (if you’re coughing regularly, please state this in the screening questionnaire).
• Payment: You can use a contactless payment method if you wish, to help keep everyone safe. The easiest way is ask your practitioner or receptionist to place your credit card on file to bill each time. That allows you to simply walk out after your treatment, without spending the extra time completing the payment, and minimizing the need for surface contact.
• Physical distancing: As there are occasionally other practitioners using the space, you may occasionally come across other people in the clinic at the same time. Please stay 2 metres away from others and remember to keep your mask on at all times. Luckily our clinic space is spacious, so this should not be a problem.
• Washrooms: Please knock on the washroom door and refrain from entering if there is someone already in the washroom (even with 2 stalls at the Midtown location, we are keeping it to one person at a time)

Any Questions?

We have been keeping up to date with all the regulations put out by the Ontario Ministry of Health, Public Health Ontario, and the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario. We’ve developed a comprehensive clinic policy to cover all the aspects of care and what we are doing to keep everyone safe and healthy.

If you have any other questions about these details, please feel free to contact us anytime.