Fairhaven COVID-19 Employee Bulletin #42

Extension of Emergency Order – Work Deployment Measures in Health Service Providers and Long Term Care Homes in Ontario

On March 21, 2020 , the Ontario government announced a new temporary order under the March 17, 2020 declaration of emergency that gives certain health service providers the powers to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Long Term Care Homes must continue to operate in a pandemic which creates a complex environment to navigate between continuing operations, continuing to offer care to Residents, and adhering to Collective Agreements with CUPE and ONA.

The Emergency Order and directives issued under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (“EMCPA”) reflected the government’s public duty to protect Ontarians in general.

Under the Order, Health Service Providers shall, and are authorized to take, with respect to work deployment and staffing, any reasonable necessary measures to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of COVID-19. This includes, but is not limited to, the authority to do the following:

• identify staffing priorities and develop, modify and implement redeployment plans;
• conduct any skills and experience inventories of staff to identify possible alternative roles in priority areas;
• require and collect information from staff or contractors about their availability to provide services for the Health Service Provider;
• require the provision of and collect information from staff or contractors about their likely or actual exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19) or about any other health conditions that may affect their ability to provide services;
• cancel or postpone services that are not related to responding to, preventing or alleviating the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19); and
• suspend, for the duration of the Order, any grievance process with respect to any matter referred to in the Order.[6]

In essence, this order allowed Homes a certain amount of flexibility to create our “staffing bubbles” which kept employees co-horted with Residents in a specific Resident Home Area (RHA).  The benefits of this arrangement have been discussed many times before; by limiting the travel not just “in and out of Fairhaven,” it is has been critical to limit travel within Fairhaven as well.  Staffing bubbles create a protected community within a community that is protected against a virus in another area of the Home due to the limited amount of intra-building travel.  The introduction of staffing bubbles have meant a great deal of adjustment for our employees and I cannot stress enough how thankful I am that staff have given a great deal of effort to adapt to this arrangement and have expressed how proud they are to be a part of a proactive environment.

There is a possibility that this emergency order (issued under he State of Emergency), will expire on or around July 15^th, 2020.  Without replacement legislation or authority, this would mean that Fairhaven would no longer have the clear ability to use staffing flexibility (ie. assigning staff to specific RHAs) that is not afforded in our collective agreements.  Our Home has lobbied extensively, locally and at the provincial level, to be given the ability to continue this staffing practice which has been integral to our success in preventing an outbreak at Fairhaven.  We would have no choice but to return to scheduling based on employees’ permanent positions and strict adherence to empty shifts filled according to seniority.

Another area of impact will be vacation.  Currently we are allowing 3 days off, but if the order ends on July 15th the vacation grid will come into effect. This means quotas will be followed and those staff that have week blocks booked off will be entitled to those weeks.  It also means that any time that has been requested after July 15th will no longer be valid. Staff will have to resubmit and approvals will be based on the quotas and grid. To ensure the least amount of impact to staff, effective today, scheduling will not be booking or covering any vacation after July 15th. Once we have confirmation that the order has ended we will let staff know and advise on when you can start submitting vacation.

I will be completely candid with everyone:  the dismantling of the strong staffing cohorts that we have concerns me greatly.  This was a best practice measure put in place as part of our pre-emptive strategy to keep staff and Residents healthy by “acting like we already have the coronavirus.”  Elected officials, 3 Ministry Inspectors and several media representatives have praised our efforts.   One Inspector said:  “You have a bunch of leaders there.  Your job must be really easy.”  She was right; we have had many leaders step up during the past 3-4 months to set examples for others by rallying behind the “greater good” and working “with” each other, with a positive approach to challenges, for the benefit of the whole home.  We will continue to have all those leaders, if staffing flexibility is not possible, but one of the most important tools that we all have, to fight off a COVID outbreak will be gone and I fear the consequences of the introduction of hundreds of potential cross contamination events daily.

There is a potential for the Province to:

1. extend the State of Emergency past July 15^th, thereby extending the Emergency Order regarding staffing flexibility
2. implement replacement legislation prior to July 15th;  or
3. provide more prescriptive guidance in existing directives to replace the current Emergency Order

These possibilities would, no doubt, be announced not long before the July 15^th end date for the existing State of Emergency.

Please be assured that Fairhaven continues rigorous screening procedures, twice a day, for anyone entering our Home and that we continue to utilize personal protective equipment that meets, or exceeds, that which is recommended by Ontario Health, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Long Term Care, World Health Organization and the Ministry of Labour.  Isolation of those with symptoms will continue and we continue to reserve our Great Room as an isolation ward that is ready to be used instantly in the event that the coronavirus enters our Home.  We will continue to take every possible precaution to prevent a COVID-19 positive case in Fairhaven.

Please consider all Fairhaven COVID-19 Employee Bulletins to be official notifications of consultation with the Fairhaven Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

we>i   – “Together we are greater than the individual”

Lionel Towns, CPA, CMA

Executive Director