HERITAGE COLLEGE COVID-19
REOPENING POLICIES
UPDATED: September 20, 2021
Update (9/20/21):
Due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, Alberta has declared a State of Public Health Emergency and implemented new measures to stop the spread. To comply with these new measures, as outlined in CMOH 44-2021, and ensure the continued safety of our students, staff and faculty, Heritage College is implementing a new mandatory vaccination policy.
- A proof of vaccination
- A letter of medical exemption signed by your family doctor
- A negative PCR or rapid test completed within 72 hours of a class’ start time.
Weekend students have until Friday, September 24th to provide Heritage College with either proof of vaccination or a letter of medical exemption. Starting on September 25th, students will not be permitted to attend in-person classes if they do not have this documentation on-file with the college unless they provide in a negative PCR or rapid test completed within the past 72 hours to their instructor at the start of class.
Heritage College will make a copy of all submitted documentation and add it to the student’s records for ease of reference.
Students denied entry to their classes will be marked absent without cause (A). Students who are absent for four (4) or more consecutive days will be withdrawn from their program.
Students who do not wish to comply with these rules can request to be transferred to a 100% online class. This transfer may take a few months, depending on where the student is in their studies.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to restrictions being implemented by Alberta Health, Medical Office Assistant students and Pharmacy Assistant students cannot be placed for their practicums unless they can provide either proof of vaccination or a letter of medical exemption.
Heritage College strongly encourages all members of our community to get vaccinated if they are able. If you are not yet vaccinated, please use the following link to schedule your vaccination as soon as possible: COVID-19 Immunization Booking | Alberta Health Services
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However, we still request students, staff and faculty continue to mask up, especially when they leave their classrooms or offices, to continue to limit the spread of cases. Vaccination rates remain low in Northeast Calgary, and cases remain high, so for everyone’s safety, we are encouraging all members of the Heritage College community to mask up and continue practicing safe behaviour for the time being.
We encourage all members of the Heritage College community to get their free COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. Please consult with Alberta Health to locate the nearest clinic providing vaccinations. The sooner we’re all vaccinated, the sooner we can lift our restrictions.
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Update (5/5/21): Following the dangerous spike in COVID-19 cases in Alberta during the Third Wave of the current pandemic, Heritage College has temporarily suspended all in-class sessions to ensure the safety of our students and instructors. This suspension is effective as of May 5, 2021, and will last until case numbers once again reach a stable level. We are hoping to reopen again on May 25, 2021. However, due to the unpredictable nature of this pandemic, we acknowledge that the suspension may have to be lengthened by several weeks, carrying over into June.
We will inform all students, faculty and staff in advance of our reopening. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Please consult with Alberta Health, and book your free vaccination at your earliest convenience. Together, we can get this pandemic under control, and return to normal.
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[ORIGINAL TEXT FOLLOWS]
In compliance with provincial regulations, Heritage College closed our campus to students and moved all our instruction online on March 15. Over the past three months, we have successfully delivered our courses to five classes of students, preparing them for new careers in this rapidly transforming economy.
Several of our courses include practical elements that cannot be delivered online with the quality our students have come to expect. Hands-on, practical training which prepares students for their future careers is one of cornerstones of the Heritage College experience, and online training is not a substitute in this area, especially as some of our graduates prepare to enter the healthcare field.
With the recent orders delivered by Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, specifically CMOH Order 19-2020, Heritage College is pleased to announce we will resume limited face-to-face instruction starting Friday, June 12. This instruction will initially be limited solely to practical instruction and labs.
If we feel these classes have been successful, and we are ensuring the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, we will consider further reopening our campus for face-to-face theory instruction, in addition to practical instruction and labs.
We wish to thank Calgary for all your efforts in maintaining social distancing over the past three months. Together, we can get through this pandemic and come out stronger than before.
Khedr Hassan
Director of Heritage College
Reopening Policies and Regulations
- We are restricting the number of students able to attend our face-to-face classes to a maximum of 15 at one time. This is based on the dimensions of our labs and our ability to maintain a minimum of a two-metre distance between students. The specific dimensions of each classroom will additional limit each class size. Please pay attention to the maximum capacity signs that are posted at the entrance of every classroom and lab.
- Before attending the college in-person, students, staff and instructors are required to take the COVID-19 Self Assessment provided by the Government of Alberta. Students, staff, and instructors are only permitted to attend class if they pass the self-assessment. Students, staff, and instructors who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 not related to preexisting conditions must get tested immediately and self-isolate. If you test positive, you must inform the college so we may take appropriate measures for the safety of our other students, staff and faculty. Contact us right away at 403-800-8221 or at info@heritage-college.ca.
- A student who cannot attend class due to being in quarantine or isolation will be accommodated for. Heritage College will re-schedule any and all practical sessions missed due to COVID-19-related precautions to align with those of a later session. Students will be informed when the next set of labs begin. This will result in a delay of up to 6 weeks, but such a delay accommodates the Alberta government’s 3 1/2 week (24 day) maximum quarantine plus isolation period.
- Before attending their first in-person class, students will be expected to complete an orientation session outlining our COVID-19 policies. This class will be provided online, via video conferencing through our Learning Management System. Students who fail to attend this orientation session will not be able to attend their in-person labs and will be marked absent (A) from all labs they miss, in compliance with Heritage College’s attendance policies.
- We will be providing PPE (masks and gloves) to all students and faculty to ensure their protection during labs, as instructors may be required be approach closer than a two-metre distance to analyze and advise on certain practical lessons.
- All equipment used in practical lessons, including computers, will be cleaned and disinfected before and after use. All stations will be equipped with sanitation wipes.
- All our labs will be thoroughly sanitized every evening. We are working with our regular cleaning partners to ensure we meet health and sanitation standards appropriate for a pandemic.
- We are limiting the use of our kitchen, lounge, and other social spaces. Only two students at a time will be permitted to use our kitchen, and our lounge will be limited to two students. We are creating additional social spaces for breaks, and staggering breaks, to help ensure social distancing, but this will still provide less space than our students are used to, and so we must ask everyone who visits Heritage College to be mindful of that.
- When attending the college, students, staff, faculty and visitors are expected to obey all signage that has been posted up regarding room capacity and traffic flow. Please only use the entrances and exits designated by the college.
- Students, staff or faculty who begin to exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 will be immediately quarantined in the staff room until transportation to a testing centre and from there to the individual’s home can be arranged. The campus will then be shut down for the day, until a thorough sanitation can be performed, and inform Alberta Health Services of the incident. All students, staff and faculty will then be required to be tested for COVID-19 before they will be permitted to return to the campus.
- Any visitors to the campus are required to sign in at the front desk. All students, staff and faculty will have their hours of attendance recorded for the purposes of contact tracing in addition to regular attendance policies.
- Students, staff and faculty are requested to download the ABTraceTogether app on their smart devices to help with contact tracing.
- Heritage College is revising our practicum policy to ensure the health and safety of our students. This means we will not be sending our students to high-risk facilities, such as hospitals and long-term care centres. Students who wish to complete their practicums in these environments will experience a delay in their practicum until conditions are deemed safe. Students who wish to graduate without these experiences will complete their practicum experiences in other environments that provide them with the necessary workplace experience.
- Graduation and other major social events will be postponed until further notice.
