We recently sat down (over Zoom!) with Christina Medwid, a Public Health Nurse in Healthy Babies Healthy Children, to chat about her experiences conducting outdoor visits with families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Christina has been nursing with Northwestern Health Unit for almost four years, joining the Family Health program directly upon completion of her degree. Christina works in one of the region’s 13 municipal offices providing services in child health, reproductive health, and Healthy Babies Healthy Children.
We first met Christina last fall, when she participated in a PHN-PREP focus group to help us understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted delivery of Ontario’s public health home visitation programs for families with young children. At that time, Christina was one of the nurses we spoke to who had experience planning and conducting outdoor visits with families throughout the spring and summer of 2020. With the recent arrival of warm weather across Ontario, we were thrilled to re-connect with Christina and ask her to share her tips and strategies for others who might be considering outdoor visits for this year.
Christina shared that the idea of outdoor visiting emerged last summer as a way of meeting the ongoing needs of clients.
“Clients were still aware that we had our program, they were really just kind of looking for ways that they could still access it…those needs for supports and services didn’t go away, just because COVID hit.”
At the time, there were limited to few opportunities to connect virtually with clients in their local community, so they began to offer visits that could take place in driveways and backyards, or during walks, including heading to local parks. As Christina pointed out, “it was either that or the phone at that point.” In her experience, clients were receptive to the idea of meeting outdoors and she would work with them to figure out where and when would be a good time for the visit, taking into consideration living arrangements, peak sun times, and children’s napping schedules.
Christina noted that outdoor visiting was a nice, consistent way of getting families outside, and that being outside elicited new types of conversations among her and her clients. Before an outdoor visit, Christina would review a packing checklist with parents to prepare them; this provided opportunities to discuss topics such as sun/bug protection and dressing baby for the weather. She observed outdoor visits boosting the confidence of new parents to be able to just “get out and go.” Christina also found outdoor visits helpful for parents to recognize the benefits that walking can provide for their babies (e.g., as a calming tool). She noted that outdoor visits can feel more informal compared to indoor visiting, and that some assessments may be challenging to conduct outdoors, but that families have appreciated the reduced pressure of “hosting” in their homes and that sometimes all they really want is to be able to just walk together and talk.
Throughout our conversation, Christina shared some of the tips she could offer other public health nurses looking to incorporate outdoor visits into their practice. They included:
- Plan for the weather – considering both temperature and exposure (e.g., heat, sun, rain).
- Send resources ahead of the visit instead of trying to manage papers etc. outdoors.
- Include parenting partners or family visitors in the outdoor visit to help with extra supervision of busy toddlers.
- Remind clients about sun safety and insect protection prior to the outdoor visit.
- Have a small bag or extra pockets for important items e.g., phone, keys, I.D.
Overall, she noted the importance of being flexible and client-centred.
At the end of our interview, we asked Christina if there was anything that had surprised her about including outdoor visits in her practice. She mentioned how outdoor visits were something that her team really hadn’t considered before the pandemic, but that based on the positive response from clients and her positive experiences conducting outdoor visits, it is something she hopes will remain as part of the range of visit options available in the post-pandemic period to clients and their families.
Thank you Christina, and if you’re looking for additional guidance on planning and conducting outdoor visits check out the PHN-PREP resource hub.