Reminder for New Grads and Students: TOMORROW, we are hosting a special webinar dedicated to you. Join us on December 2nd for our Navigating Nursing in a time of Uncertainty: A Roadmap for Students about to Graduate and New Grads. Click here to learn more
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals
Today, the government announced
it will be collaborating with industry leaders to develop a plan for the safe and efficient distribution of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available.
Yesterday, the government announced the opening of the application process for Ontario’s Support for Learners program.
This program will provide direct one-time payments to parents and guardians to help offset additional learning costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents or guardians will be eligible to receive this benefit regardless of whether their children are currently learning in school or online. Funds can support parents with the costs of education expenses, as well as with additional child care costs. Over the weekend, two new voluntary management agreements were approved by the Ministry of Long-Term Care for long-term care homes in Scarborough and Richmond Hill. As a result, Scarborough Health Network will provide enhanced support to Rockcliffe Care Community in Scarborough, and Mackenzie Health will provide enhanced support to Langstaff Square Care Community in Richmond Hill. The purpose of the voluntary management agreements is to address the spread of COVID-19 and stabilize
operations in these two facilities.
Last week, Ontariore-classified certain public health units at new levels of the provincial COVID-19 response framework.
The Premier also reiterated his call to the federal government to provide Canada’s premiers with clarity on how COVID-19 vaccines will be allocated across the
country. The federal plan will inform the work of the Ministers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force, which was announced earlier this week.
Yesterday, the Federal government provided a fiscal update and presented their stimus plan. The economic statement indicated that the federal deficit will increase to $382-billion this year. The government will also inject $100-billion more in stimulus rolled out over the next three years.
The stimulus plan includes investments focused
on:
Fighting COVID-19
Supporting Canadians - and Canadian businesses - through the Pandemic
Building Back Better
Some key investments of interest to RPNs include:
$ 1.5 billion on top of prior amounts to procure PPE
$1 billion for a new Safe Long-term Care Fund to help provinces and territories protect people in long-term care and support infection prevention and control;
$565.4 million to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to
ensure that federal and provincial laboratories continue to receive sufficient testing supplies and to support the roll-out of new rapid COVID-19 tests and innovative approaches to testing;
$299.4 million through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy to enable physical distancing, enhanced cleaning and other emergency health and safety measures to prevent
the spread of COVID-19 in shelters.
$66 million over two years to support community-based organizations responding to substance use issues.
$186.8 million over two years to address needs and gaps in supportive care facilities and provide additional home care in Indigenous communities, in order to protect elders and other vulnerable community members from COVID-19.
For more information, we encourage you to visit the Government of Canada website.
Daily
Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 118,199 confirmed cases (increase of 1,707), 100,012 resolved cases, 3,663 deaths and 34,046 currently under investigation with lab results pending.
The Ministry is also reporting that 645 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 185 are in ICU and 112 are vented. To view these additional details:click here
Click Hereto read the latest Ministry of Health Daily Report
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
