Consumer Memo 5 Re: COVID-19

Dear Valued Nucleus Consumer,
I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and let you know how you can get a hold of me. My name is Laura Salisbury and I am the new Chief Executive Officer at Nucleus Independent Living. I have discovered many new things in my first 60 days here, including ideas on how we can better communicate with one another. One of our top priorities is to ensure your safety and to create a positive experience with every visit. I want to keep you informed on all the ways we are working to achieve that every time. A few highlights I would like to share so far are ...

COVID-19: Our Mutual Commitment to Ensuring Safety

COVID-19 has been a part of our lives for eight months and remains a volatile situation. Nucleus continues to work closely with Public Health and the Ministry of Health to ensure the safety of our staff and consumers, and to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our communities. To ensure we do our part, our staff monitor their health daily, and are required to stay home if they are feeling unwell.

When delivering care, they are required to wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE) that includes a mask, face shield or goggles for every visit; and gloves when required. Staff will not wear boot covers over their indoor shoes, as they pose a fall risk, however, they will clean the sole of their indoor shoes prior to wearing them in your home. There may be times when a gown is required as part of the PPE that staff wear. You will be advised when that is required. In keeping with the guidelines for physical distancing, staff will endeavor to maintain a 6-foot distance where possible during service delivery and we would ask the same of persons in your home.

If staff are not wearing their PPE, I encourage you to remind them oftheir responsibility to safety.

In return, you (and anyone else present during the visit) are required to have a mandatory COVID screening before every visit, and where possible, to wear a mask or face covering e.g. scarf or bandana while receiving care. The outcome ofthe screening will not impact your care. However, should you or any of the persons in your home refuse to be screened, we will not be able to provide services.

For the latest information on COVID-19 visit: https://covid-19.ontario.ca

Symptoms of COVID-19 can vary from person to person. They may also vary in different age groups. Some of the more commonly reported symptoms include:

new or worsening cough
shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
temperature equal to or over 38°C
feeling feverish
chills
fatigue or weakness
muscle or body aches
new loss of smell or taste
headache
gastrointestinal symptoms (abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting)
feeling very unwell

Additional COVID-19 Resources:
You can download the Canadian COVID-19 app to help break the cycle of infection. The app alerts users who may have had possible exposure to COVID-19 before any symptoms appear. You can download the app by clicking on the link below.

Safety first!
Our staff continue to work tirelessly to maintain both your safety and their safety. We ask for your understanding and patience as they comply with the new rules (e.g. waiting for the elevator with physical distancing, which may delay their arrival).

Communication - Share your Thoughts and Suggestions
One of the ways I want to continue to learn in my new role is to hear about your experiences and ideas. I hope you'll share them with me so that I can address your concerns and better understand where we could improve. Please e-mail me anytime: Laura.SaIisbury@nucleusonIine.ca

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your care you can:
phone: 905-829-4499 ext. 125 or email info@nucleusonline.ca.

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Building a Scalable Digital Health Ecosystem

October 23, 2026

Over the past four years, Nucleus has moved from using digital systems mainly as administrative tools to using them as part of daily decision-making, service oversight, communication and organizational planning. The shift is not about the tools themselves. It is about how the tools are embedded into operations. “Nucleus has been investing in staff digital literacy, process redesign and change management, recognizing that digital transformation is as much about people and culture as it is about technology. This thoughtful, practical approach positions Nucleus not just to adapt to system changes, but to help shape them,” shared Lori Holloway, CEO, Ontario Community Support Association. “The fundamental change is that Nucleus has shifted from reactive, manual and system-dependent work toward a more proactive, datainformed, digitally enabled operating model. Teams can now monitor and respond to issues – double-booked shifts, scheduling gaps, service-code exceptions, before they become larger problems.” - Shiva Vosoughi, Lead of Digital Health & Privacy A few examples from this year tell the story. 1. The Integrated Decision Support (IDS) platform: administered by the Ontario Hospital Association, gives Nucleus the ability to link internal records with regional data, including hospital admissions and emergency department visits. The result is a sharper picture of clients’ health system journeys and an ability to identify risk earlier. 2. Department-specific dashboards: give frontline managers real-time access to operational and quality indicators. Care Team Leads, Care Coordinators and managers now use data to support attendant performance review, Hospital to Home journey monitoring, scheduling oversight and operational issue identification, moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive operational management. 3. Service code data entry accuracy was sustained at less than 1% error throughout fiscal year 2025- 2026, with an average error rate of approximately 0.17%. It reflects data quality monitoring, staff accountability and operational checkpoints working in concert. 4 . Family Portal: Nucleus’ client and family-facing AlayaCare interface, added a major feature on February 23, 2026: clients and families can now access their personalized care plans through the portal app. The launch followed a careful cross-functional planning effort. The feature represents the next phase of Family Portal evolution: clients move from viewing schedules to seeing their own care goals and care planning information directly. 5. Dial My Calls , a new mass communication system, allows Nucleus to deliver pre-recorded, standardized voice messages to clients and staff in inclement weather and other emergencies. Expanded use cases are being explored. 6 . Custom applications and integrated data: Nucleus has built its own applications and linked previously siloed systems - incident reporting, finance, human resources, scheduling and hospital data - into a single picture spanning client assessments, service utilization and acute-care use. The result is a clear line of sight from frontline service to system-level outcomes like avoidable hospital visits and alternate-level-of-care days, and the ability to map a client's journey before and after Nucleus to advocate for funding and inform regional service planning. 7. Sandbox Initiative : In partnership with the University of Toronto's Sandbox program - a model that brings real organizational challenges into academic-applied research - Nucleus continued its food-insecurity geo-mapping and Adult Day Service business case work, and went further this year by sharing de-identified data on roughly 4,000 clients with student research teams in statistics and human biology. Their independent analyses found that clients rely on the hospital system less after starting with Nucleus, with the strongest effects among the highest-need clients: unscheduled admissions for clients with mental health conditions fell by roughly 40%, and clients with cardiovascular conditions saw inpatient admissions, readmissions and costs drop by 35–55%. These are exploratory analyses that describe patterns rather than prove causation, but they offer external, data-grounded support for what Nucleus sees in practice - that home- and community-based care keeps people healthier at home and eases pressure on acute care. For Nucleus, building a scalable digital health ecosystem means connecting people, processes, and information in ways that strengthen care today and create capacity for tomorrow. By pairing practical technology with staff expertise, strong partnerships, and a commitment to continuous improvement, Nucleus is turning data into action - helping clients remain healthier at home while contributing to a more responsive and sustainable health system.