We wanted to share that the Canadian Nurses Association just announced the inaugural Fellows for the recently established Canadian Academy of Nursing. This includes WeRPN's CEO Dianne Martin. We look forward to working with the Academy to continue to advance nursing leadership and education.
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals Today, the government announced it is providing an additional $14.75 million to increase access to mental health and addictions services across the province.
This investment was provided through the Support for People and Jobs Fund and will help community-based mental health and addictions programs meet increasing service demands. The funding is being distributed as follows:
$7 million to safely expand in-person mental health and addictions services to bridge current gaps brought on by COVID-19, including community-based services, congregate living and supportive housing;
$4.75 million to support culturally safe services for Indigenous communities, with a focus on children and youth; and
$3 million to expand virtual and online services including addictions supports, Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) and an online peer support community for mental health.
The
government also announced it is investing over $2.9 million to fund eight research projects that aim to support Ontario's response to COVID-19. These projects will focus on a wide variety of areas such as supporting the mental health and well-being of families and
children, assessing the long-term health effects of COVID-19, the development of an app to better manage the care of patients, and an evaluation of the effectiveness of wearing masks to block the virus.
Yesterday, the governments of Ontario and Quebec agreed to collaborate on job creation and accelerating economic recovery from COVID-19, as well as to share lessons learned from the pandemic and to prepare provincial health systems for a potential second wave.
In addition, as COVID-19 has exacerbated existing pressures on provincial health systems, both premiers called on the federal government to significantly increase the Canada
Health Transfer (CHT) in order to ensure fair, flexible, and sustainable funding for provincial health systems.
When addressing the media, Premier Ford confirmed that Ontario would begin reporting outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools moving forward, similarly to the reporting of outbreaks in long-term care facilities.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau announced investments of up to nearly $221 million in partnership with Canadian financial institutions – including up to nearly $93 million from the Government of Canada over the next four years – to launch Canada’s first-ever Black Entrepreneurship Program. This program will help thousands of Black business owners and entrepreneurs across the country recover from this crisis and grow their
businesses.
For more information, we encourage you to visit the Government of Canada website.
Daily Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 43,855 confirmed cases (increase of 170), 39,474 resolved cases, 2,814 deaths and 25,850 currently under investigation with lab results pending.
The Ministry is also reporting that 54 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 14 are in ICU and 9 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
