Asylum seekers make up a large portion of the "guardian angels" Quebec Premier François Legault has praised in his daily briefings — the orderlies, or préposées aux bénéficiaires (PABs), working in long-term care homes — who have no guarantee they'll be allowed to stay in Canada. >> COVID-19-related; Health care; Personal care
A new video called 'Je Me Souviendrai' brings together voices of essential workers here in Quebec. It was created to raise awareness about the contribution newcomers and refugees are making in the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. One its creators, Fabrice Vil, spoke to Breakaway's Alison Brunette about why these frontline workers need to be recognized. >> COVID-19-related; Health care; Security
Support workers, many of whom are ethnic minorities, help dress, feed, clean and toilet residents, tasks that many Canadians, even the families of the frail, find unpleasant. They occupy the lowest rung of the health-care professional ladder and get little glory and recognition for looking after society’s most vulnerable people. Advocates say it’s overdue that personal support workers are afforded the same safeguards and oversight other workers receive. >> COVID-19-related; Personal care; Health care.
The province has expanded the $4 an hour pay increase to more front-line workers combating COVID-19. Paramedics, public health nurses and addictions and mental health workers in hospitals and congregate care settings, and respiratory therapists will now be eligible to receive the expanded pandemic pay. The pandemic pay was initially announced Saturday and eligible workers included staff working in long-term care and retirement homes, emergency shelters, supportive housing, social services congregate care settings, corrections institutions and youth justice facilities, home and community care providers, and some staff in hospitals.>> COVID-19-related; Health care; Nursing
One in seven Ontario residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 are health-care workers, a rate that is steadily rising, provincial data reveals. That puts Ontario at one of the highest rates of health-care worker infection worldwide. >> COVID-19-related; Health care; Personal care.
An estimated 500 refugees, most from Africa, came north to Sudbury in recent months because the wait list for social housing was much shorter than in southern Ontario. Immigration system still working during the pandemic, but much slower than before... Experiences of two newcomers in the fields of personal support worker and security described. >> COVID-19-related; Health care; Security.
With the novel coronavirus still wreaking havoc on health care systems and interventions to slow its spread choking the economy, Canada's manufacturers are simultaneously riding out an unprecedented shock while also planning for an uncertain future. >> COVID-19-related; Manufacturing.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. is moving to increase its domestic production of personal protective equipment for health-care workers across Canada. >> Sewing.
For a country ripped apart in recent years by Brexit and the anti-immigrant movement that birthed it, the deaths of the eight doctors — from Egypt, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan — attest to the extraordinary dependence of Britain’s treasured health service on workers from abroad. It is a story tinged with racism, as white, British doctors have largely dominated the prestigious disciplines while foreign doctors have typically found work in places and practices that are apparently putting them on the dangerous front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. >> COVID-19-related; Health care
The Province of Ontario is now actively recruiting healthcare workers, including retired and internationally educated professionals in the fight against coronavirus, in an attempt to boost frontline capacity at hospitals, clinics and assessment centres. A new online portal called Health Workforce Matching Portal will help match health care professionals including students and volunteers with suitable experience with potential employers. >> Health care; COVID-19-related.