When Inside Well being is struggling with staffing its long-time period treatment properties in the Central Okanagan shifting into the summer months, IH states the difficulty is not owing to the vaccine mandate that went into impact past Oct.

In an inner memo from earlier this thirty day period, govt director of Scientific Functions Danielle Cameron sought help from Central Okanagan medical functions employees in staffing extended-time period treatment houses as existing workers consider holidays by way of the summer time months.

Pursuing Castanet’s reporting on the problem, a handful of readers were being brief to location the blame on Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s purchase from very last yr that expected all B.C. care property staff members to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

But Interior Health claims just 21 extended-time period treatment staff across all of the wellness authority ended up fired as a end result of that provincial health order.

“Interior Health and fitness has 2,225 whole care aide positions in long-expression treatment. Whilst every posture is useful, the problem we are going through is with broader vacancies, not the influence associated to the vaccine mandate, which would be small as this was less than a person for each cent of our workforce,” IH spokesperson Karl Hardt reported in a assertion.

The health and fitness authority is seeking further medical staffing for Brookhaven Treatment Centre, 3 Inbound links Manor, Cottonwoods Treatment Centre and David Lloyd Jones care homes, “due to scheduled family vacation and baseline vacancies” likely into the summer months.

Although the federal authorities has suspended its two-shot need for federally regulated workers and for airplane travellers, B.C. is sticking with the necessity for for its public servants and health care employees for now.

“The present-day prerequisite for wellness-care workers and other staff members operating in long-term, acute and local community care to be vaccinated from COVID-19 helps to safeguard our health care personnel and the people getting treatment and dwelling in these increased risk settings,” said Amy Crofts, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.

“Our wellbeing-treatment services and wellbeing-treatment providers treatment for our most vulnerable, at-possibility citizens, so it is vital that we keep this essential layer of safety for them. All extended-phrase treatment/assisted residing internet sites have submitted contingency staffing programs primarily based on their website precise situation, which are currently being monitored and supported by the regional wellness authorities.”

The Ministry would not say how extended these vaccine necessities would remain in place.

“Public health and fitness bases all choices to set in location or raise restrictions on a very careful critique of the place we are in B.C. in this pandemic,” Croft stated.

Back in February, Inside Overall health CEO Susan Brown explained 895 workforce throughout all of Inside Well being had been fired for refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19. This labored out to about 4.3 per cent of the wellness authority’s 21,000 complete employees.