While Interior Health is suffering in its long-term care homes in Central Okanagan before the summer months, IH says the challenge is not due to the vaccination mandate that went into effect last October.
In an internal memo earlier this month, Executive Director of Clinical Operations Danielle Cameron requested the help of clinical operations staff at the Okanagan Center for staff in long-term care homes, while existing staff take vacations during the summer months.
Following Castanet’s report on the subject, a handful of readers were quick to blame the provincial director of fitness, Dr. Julia S. Bonnie Henry, for last year’s order that all fitness personnel in British Columbia be taken care of. to COVID-19.
But Interior Health says 21 long-term care workers at the fitness authority have been laid off as a result of the provincial fitness order.
“Interior Health has 2225 nursing assistant positions in long-term care. While each position is valuable, the challenge we face is broader vacancies, not the effect of the vaccine mandate, which would be minimal since it was less than one. %of our workforce,” HI spokesman Karl Hardt said in a statement.
The fitness authority is seeking more clinical staff for Brookhaven Care Center, Three Links Manor, Cottonwoods Care Center and David Lloyd Jones Nursing Homes, “due to planned vacancies and referral vacancies” in the summer months.
While the federal government has suspended its two-shot requirement for federally regulated travelers and for air travelers, British Columbia is sticking to the requirement for its public servants and health care for now.
“The existing requirement for health care personnel and other staff working in acute, long-term and network care to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is helping our health care staff and others who receive care and live in those high-risk settings,” Amy said. Crofts, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health.
“Our fitness services and fitness providers care about our most vulnerable and at-risk citizens, so it’s vital that we provide them with this vital layer of coverage. All long-term care/assisted living sites have submitted site-specific emergency personnel plans that are monitored and supported by regional fitness authorities.
The ministry would say how long those vaccine needs would remain in place.
“Public fitness bases all decisions to enforce or lift restrictions on a careful examination of our scenario in British Columbia in this pandemic,” Croft said.
In February, Interior Health CEO Susan Brown said 895 Interior Health workers had been laid off for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This represented approximately 4. 3% of the 21,000 workers in the fitness authority.
Must-read stories