Protect your health and your community
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Communications resources
Communications resources on topics related to community health and safety that can be shared with or adapted to your community:
For all COVID-19 related resources, visit:
Protect your community
Federal assistance for COVID-19 emergency health supports
If your community is experiencing an emergency related to COVID-19 and is requesting assistance from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), consult:
Personal protective equipment
ISC maintains a stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizers that is available to Indigenous communities and organizations during COVID-19 and other emergencies.
The stockpile is accessible:
- in cases where other sources of PPE are unavailable
- to ensure the safety of health workers and others supporting delivery of health services
How to access the equipment
Indigenous communities and organizations should contact their regional office if their usual supplier and provincial or territorial government are unable to process their PPE requests.
Regional offices work with ISC's national office on equipment requests for health care purposes.
ISC is processing PPE requests with quick turnaround to ensure communities are ready to respond to COVID-19 as effectively as possible.
To find out more, consult:
Advice and resources for public health measures and restrictions
Resources on preventing the spread of COVID-19
Progress on vaccine
About the variants
Protect your health
How to avoid getting COVID-19
- wear a mask and wash your hands often
- use caution in closed and crowded spaces
- attend outdoor events over indoor ones
- get a COVID-19 vaccine when eligible
How to prevent spreading COVID-19
- Stay home when you are sick
- Cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze
COVID-19 and mental wellness
COVID-19 can impact your mental health. Mental health counselling is available.
Use these supports if you need help or you know someone who needs help.
- Hope for Wellness Help Line
- Wellness together Canada
- NIHB mental health counselling
- Taking care of your mental health during COVID-19
- Indigenous mental health
- Shkaabe Makwa: Centre for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Wellness
New support available for mental wellness during COVID-19:
If you are sick
If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough and difficulty breathing you should:
- isolate yourself at home in accordance with your local and provincial or territorial guidelines to avoid spreading it to others
- call your nursing station or local health facility and if appropriate, your provincial or territorial health authority. Tell them your symptoms and your exposure. They will provide advice on next steps
If you may have been exposed
Even if you are not showing symptoms of COVID-19, you need to isolate in accordance with your local and provincial or territorial guidelines if:
- you had close contact with someone who has or is suspected to have COVID-19
or
- you have been told by the local health facility or the public health authority that you may have been exposed and need to quarantine
or
- you are returning to your community after being away for an extended period
To find out more, consult:
Masks and respirators for non-health care workers
Wearing a non-medical mask or face covering while out in public is recommended and in some cases mandatory when it is not possible to consistently maintain a 2-metre physical distance from others, particularly in crowded public settings. Check with your nursing station or local health authority. In the event of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 within a community, well-fitting medical masks are now being recommended for:
- anyone who has tested positive for or has symptoms of COVID-19
- people who live in an overcrowded setting with someone who has tested positive or has symptoms of COVID-19
- people who are at risk of more severe disease or outcomes from COVID-19
- people who are at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 because of their living situation
- individuals in the above situations could also consider using a non-fit tested respirator such as a KN95
House hold members are to wear a well-fitting and properly sealed non-fit tested respirators, eye protection (such as goggles or face shield), gown and gloves when providing direct care to individuals with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
Visitors to health facilities are to wear a well-fitting medical mask or non-fit tested respirator, depending on the local context.
To find out more:
Caring for someone sick
If you are caring for a person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, follow this advice to protect yourself and others in the home, as well as those in your community.
To find out more, consult:
Hand hygiene and drinking water advisories
If your community is on a boil water advisory or do not consume advisory, you should still use your water to wash your hands with soap and water and for personal hygiene. Infants and toddlers should be sponge bathed in order to avoid accidentally swallowing the water.
If you are on a do not use advisory, your water is not safe for any use. Use bottled water with soap or hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to wash your hands.
If you do not have access to running water, wash your hands in a large bowl and then throw out the water from the handwashing bowl after each individual use.
COVID-19 is not known to spread through water.
To find out more, consult: