Like you, we are concerned about the growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks in Long Term Care (LTC) facilities and retirement communities across the province. That is why, we joined health partners in urging the government to take additional immediate action to help protect residents and staff in long-term care homes, retirement housing, supportive housing and assisted living. This includes calling on government to:
Immediately secure sufficient PPE so that we can provide protection to staff in LTC homes, retirement housing, seniors’ supportive housing and assisted living.
Ensure immediately that Ontario has an
adequate supply of, and that all LTC homes, retirement homes, seniors’ supportive housing and assisted living for seniors are equipped with, the necessary screening equipment.
Secure sufficient testing capacity and testing supplies to take a precautionary approach to testing.
This letter builds on our previous advocacy to government for all nurses to have access to apppropriate PPE. We recognize this is an ongoing concern and will continue to push for more action for RPNs and other health professionals.
Facebook Live- Tuesday April 7, 2020 Tomorrow evening at 8pm, we'll be hosting another Facebook Live event to answer your questions and hear your experiences from the frontlines. Tune in at https://www.facebook.com/wearepracticalnurses/
Urgent Jobs During
COVID-19 We continue to receive information from organizations seeking to hire more nurses to support the COVID-19 response. Several new postings are available on the COVID-19 Staff Needed section.
Health Force Ontario continues to recruit health professionals, please consider signing up
If you know any employers who are looking for RPNs, please direct them to our website where they can sharing postings. This site is reserved for direct postings from employers. Agencies looking to recruit
RPNs are invited to post to our Job Board.
Key Provincial Updates and Resources for Health Professionals During his daily press conference, Premier Ford confirmed that 500,000 masksdestined for province that were held up at
the border will be released by U.S. At the same time, the province continues to procure all available supplies and equipment to support Ontario’s patients and workers. Areas of focus include:
Executing on a provincial allocation and distribution strategy
with a focus on delivering critical personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment to the providers that need it most urgently.
Active planning on conservation, reprocessing and alternative/repurposing strategies for PPE.
Ontario announced it will be offering direct financial support to parents while Ontario schools and child care centres remain closed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes one-time payment of $200 per child 0 to 12 years of age, and $250 for those 0 to 21 years of age with special needs.
This weekend we saw Ontario launch a new portal to connecting workers with employers looking to fill positions in the agri-food sector.
The province also issued an Emergency Alert urging all Ontarians to stay home and only go out for absolute necessities, such as picking up groceries or medications.
Ontario also announced that it will be investing $40 million to support organizations that provide residential services for children and youth, people with developmental disabilities and emergency shelters for women and families fleeing domestic violence.
Key Federal Updates The Federal government COVID-19 benefits program portal opens today: Here's how to apply
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is confident
Canada will succeed inconvincing the United States not to ban exports of protective equipment to Canada
Researchers at the University of Manitoba announced they may have found a way to reuse N95 masks up to 10 times.
On Sunday, Minister of International Development Karina Gould announced plans to give $159.5 million
toward supporting international efforts to tackle the pandemic — including developing a vaccine. For more information, we encourage you to visit theGovernment of Canada website.
Daily Reports
As of 10:30AM today, Ontario reported 4,347confirmed cases, 1,624 resolved cases, 132 deaths and 329 currently under investigation with lab results pending.
The Ministry is now also reporting that 589patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, 216 are in ICU and 160 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 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
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