We want to start today's update by acknowledging the first loss of a member of our Ontario nursing community due to COVID-19. We were extremely saddened to learn about the death of Brian Beattie, a RN who worked at Kensington Village, a long-term care facility in London. Our condolences go out to Brian's family, friends, colleagues and residents who are mourning this tragic loss.
We continue to call attention to the signficant
toll this pandemic is having on nurses and our colleagues. This week, our CEO Dianne Martin shared some additional thoughts about the mental health supports nurses will need in the aftermath of this pandemic. Read her opinion piece here.
We thank everyone who joined our Nursing Week edition of Facebook Live
last night where we shared stories of how nurses were inspired to get into nursing. Watch that here.
Nursing Week Trivia Night- Tomorrow at 8pm As we continue our Nursing Week celebrations, we're looking forward to hosting a special virtual trivia night for RPN. Join us and your nursing colleagues tomorrow evening for a fun filled event and showcase your nursing knowledge! We'll meet you on Zoom tomorrow night - Meeting ID: 972 6915 0339.
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals
Earlier today, the government took additional steps to protect long-term care residents and staff by adopting an emergency order allowing the province to issue a mandatory management order for a long-term care home struggling to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Education Stephen Lecce also announced that the Ontario government is working with the province’s education sector to allow for the voluntary redeployment of education workers to fill staffing shortages in congregate care settings.
Later this afternoon, the government released details about their plan to make prescription drugs more affordable.
The updated case definition includes consideration for travel within Canada (as well as international travel), and includes updates to the ‘probable’ case definition to include people who were living/working in a facility known to be experiencing an outbreak. The updated symptoms list now includes multisystem inflammatory vasculitis in children.
Yesterday, a memo was sent to Public Health Units communicating an emergency order authorizing coroners and
Public Health Units to access to the provincial Electronic Health Record (EHR) to help in the response to COVID-19.
For more information, we encourage you to visit theGovernment of Canada website.
Daily Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 21,236 confirmed cases (increase of 329), 15,845 resolved cases, 1,765 deaths and 13,395 currently under investigation with lab results pending.
The Ministry is also reporting that 1,018 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 189 are in ICU and 144 are vented. To view these additional details: click here Click Hereto read the latest Ministry of Health Daily Report **Please note, these reports are intended for health professionals only and we request that you not share this with the public.
World Health Organization Situation Reports are also available here
In the News For an interactive map tracking all cases across Canada and internationally, click here
Below are some key stories from today that may be of interest to our members:
We encourage RPNs looking for employment opportunities to sign up on all the platforms noted above.
We will continue to monitor this situation and keep you updated as more information becomes available. Thank you for the important work that you're doing and the sacrifices you're making to keep Ontarians safe. We appreciate everything that you're doing each and every day.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tiff Blair at tblair@werpn.com
Sincerely,
WeRPN Team
WeRPN 5025 Orbitor Drive Building 5, Suite 200 Mississauga, Ontario L4W 4Y5