Happy New Year. While we look back and reflect on 2020, we look forward to a hopeful 2021. To all the nurses and health providers who gave so much this past year, we thank you. We made a special tribute video in your honour: watch here
Call for Submissions: We Are Practical Nursing Magazine Do you have a story to share with your nursing community? We are currently accepting submissions for the Spring issue of our magazine! We are specifically looking for stories about leadership, innovation, resilience and how nurses have overcome
adversity in the face of #COVID-19 this past year. Pieces should ideally be 300-500 words. For questions & to submit your piece, please email tblair@werpn.com. Submission deadline: January 28th, 2021
WeRPN Leadership Series- Registration Now Open On January 18th, we will be kicking off the winter semester of our online leadership courses. We hope you will join us for one of our interactive 8-week online learning experiences, including:
Click here for further details and to register. If you have any questions about the courses, please email Sharon Foster at sfoster@werpn.com
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals
Today, the Ontario government provided an update on provincial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and announced that all residents, health care workers, and essential caregivers at long-term care homes in priority regions would receive a COVID-19 vaccination by January 21, 2021. Priority regions will include Toronto, Peel, York, and Windsor-Essex.
Additional details were provided today during a technical briefing. Key updates include:
Frontline health care workers who participated in the Pfizer pilot program in Toronto and Ottawa are receiving their second doses of the vaccine this week.
44 vaccine sites have been established to date.
Over 50,000 people have been administered the Pfizer vaccine, including approximately 26,000 health care workers in long-term care and retirement homes, 20,000 other health care workers, and 1,000 residents.
Nearly 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine were administered across 24 long-term care homes between December 31, 2020 and January 3, 2021. More than 4,000 additional doses are planned to be administered across 26 long-term care homes between January 4 and January 6.
Approximately 2 million vaccine doses are expected to arrive throughout the winter during Phase One of Ontario’s vaccine implementation plan.
Yesterday, Toronto Mayor John Tory and Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, announced additional measures for businesses to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within Toronto workplaces. New requirements include immediate notification of Toronto Public Health (TPH) when a business becomes aware of two or more people who test positive for COVID-19 in connection with workplace premises within a 14-day interval.
On December 30th, the provincial government released an ethical framework for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The framework was developed in partnership with the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. According to the ethical framework, vaccine distribution will be based on the principals of equity, fairness, transparency, legitimacy, and public trust, with an overall objective of minimizing harms while maximizing benefits.
On December 31, 2020, the Minister of Transport, announced that, effective January 7, Canada is requiring all passengers five years of age or older, be required to test negative for COVID-19 before travelling by air from another country to Canada.
The Chief Public Health Officer's statement for January 5th is available here
For more information, we encourage you to visit the Government of Canada website.
Daily Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 197,360 confirmed cases (increase of 3,128), 166,790 resolved cases, 4,730 deaths.
The Ministry is also reporting that 1,347 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 352 are in ICU and 245 are vented. To view these additional details:click here
Click Here to 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
