The OHI Safety Bubble
If you’ve been receiving our emails, then you know we’ve been working hard to enhance our guests’ experience, while also providing a safer environment. We established community health guidelines for our on-campus community members – guests, missionaries and staff – making OHI the safest place to be outside of your home.
100% Safety Record = 3 Transmissions
We are proud to share with you that since the pandemic started, we have been tracking our safety record. Our safety record measures Covid-19 virus transmissions. At OHI Austin, we have had only three on-campus transmissions. We attribute our near-perfect safety record to the following protocols:
Our 3-step guest screening process:
- Step 1 - At the time of reservation: We pre-screen to qualify guests for on-campus stays. Anyone experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms will be required to book their reservation 4 weeks after they are symptom-free.
- Step 2 - Before guests arrive: We check in with our guests 3-5 days before their arrival to ensure they qualify to be on our campus.
- Step 3 - On arrival: Per CDC protocols, we monitor temperatures of all incoming guests, using non-contact thermometers. We will continue to take guests’ temperatures at their request.
Covid-19 testing: We brought the entire Covid-19 surveillance testing process in-house. We perform testing on Sundays at check-in. All program participants, missionaries, and staff are required to participate in group/cohort testing, using a rapid, non-invasive, pain-free sampling method that detects coronavirus.
Face Masks: Within the indoor common areas, face masks are optional. However, if someone in the community tests positive during the week, then you may be required to wear a certified N95 face mask at the discretion of OHI.
Guests receiving colonic, massage, or chiropractic care are still required to wear a mask during the treatment. You are not required to wear a mask while in the privacy of your guest room. You can bring your own certified N95 face mask or use one provided by OHI. Face masks will be maintained without rips, tears, or holes and will be worn properly, fully covering your nose and mouth.
Smaller cohorts: We have fewer people on campus, including guests, staff and missionaries. OHI San Diego is limited to 60 guests on our 2-acre campus; OHI Austin is limited to 20 guests on our 14-acre campus.
Trained staff: From the moment we became aware of the COVID-19 back in March of 2020, our staff immediately established safety protocols for the OHI community:
- We formed a compliance team to actively monitor the COVID-19 situation to ensure we not only follow the most-current CDC and county-prescribed safety protocols, but to ensure we exceed those standards.
- Before each work shift, if one of our staff members or missionaries exhibit any symptoms of cold or flu, they do not come to work.
- For those who do come to work - before every shift - each employee and missionary is required to take their temperature and if they exhibit a temperature of 100-degrees Fahrenheit or higher, they are sent home.
Food handling: Food is solely handled by our trained kitchen staff. Our kitchen staff wear gloves, face masks, and face shields during food preparation and during mealtime service.
Clean facilities: We follow a comprehensive safety plan that involves three major pillars: 1) minimizing infectious diseases from entering the OHI campus, 2) preventing the transmission of disease between community members, and 3) sterilizing the campus, guest rooms, and public areas to reduce the likelihood of disease transmission:
- We use electrostatic spray disinfection systems and only safe, non-chemical cleaners in our guest rooms, common areas, and kitchens.
- We have Molekule air purifiers in each guest room, classroom, and large common areas. These air purifiers destroy a wide range of pollutants, including allergens, volatile organic compounds, bacteria, mold, and viruses.
- We increased sanitation in all of our departments across our campuses, Including regular cleaning of doorknobs, light switches, and other surfaces around our campuses. Additionally, we sanitize and deep-clean our kitchens and community bathrooms on a regular basis.
- We put extra emphasis on keeping our dining hall and water stations sanitized before, during, and after mealtimes.
- We continue to provide alcohol-based hand-sanitizer stations in a variety of places on our campuses (public bathrooms, classrooms, etc.) – especially areas that concern food (dining area, wheatgrass juice room, and food prep classrooms).