Apologies for the delayed delivery of this week's second newsletter!
In case you missed it, on Wednesday, our CEO Dianne Martin wrote an opnion piece to highlight how RPNs, though supportive fair compensation for their colleagues, feel left behind after the recent PSW wage increase. Read the article here.
We would also like thank you to everyone who participated in our first virtual AGM yesterday evening. It was great to see such wonderful engagement and to have an opportunity to connect with RPNs across the province.
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals Yesterday, the government released new modelling that they suggest shows that Ontario is at lower risk of exhausting its health care system. See the modelling.
Premier Ford and Minister Fedeli announced the second phase of the Ontario Made program, which encourages consumers to support local businesses. The program is a partnership with CME.
In the second phase of Ontario Made, CME is launching a website with an Ontario Made Consumer Directory, which will promote Ontario-made goods and simplify the process of finding made-in-Ontario products for consumers. The searchable directory can be accessed at supportontariomade.ca and includes over 4,600 products.
The government also announced an investment of $241 million for municipalities and Indigenous community partners to help protect vulnerable populations across the province.
On Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford and Minister of Infrastructure, Laurie Scott, announced up to $1.05 billion in combined federal-provincial funding through the new COVID-19 Resilience infrastructure stream of the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). This
stream will support the building or renovation of health and safety-related projects in long-term care, education, and municipalities.
The federal government is investing $1.9 million for a national study of COVID-19 antibodies that is targeted specifically at some of the more high-risk populations in the
country.
A new Statistics Canada report says communities with the most visible minorities had the highest mortality rates
during the first wave of the novel coronavirus. The report's authors say it is more evidence that the pandemic is disproportionately affecting visible minorities, who are more likely to live in overcrowded housing and work in jobs that put them more at risk of exposure to COVID-19
The Bank of Canada has
said it expects the economy to be ‘scarred’ by COVID-19 until 2023 and Governor Tiff Macklem indicated he expects to hold currently low-interest rates until then.
For more information, we encourage you to visit the Government of Canada website.
Daily Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 74,715 confirmed cases (increase of 896), 63,919 resolved cases, 3,127 deaths and 41,063 currently under investigation with lab results pending.
The Ministry is also reporting that 314 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 75 are in ICU and 52 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
