Bruce County rescinds COVID-19 vaccine policy for long-term care homes
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Bruce County has rescinded its COVID-19 vaccination policy for its Gateway Haven and Brucelea Haven long-term care homes.
County council approved a recommendation from long-term care and senior services director Megan Garland at its meeting on Thursday to rescind the policy.
In her report, Garland said that while they continue to see COVID-19 fluctuate in the community, the risk of severe outcomes to residents has been reduced with high vaccine uptake, availability of antivirals and high immunity in the community.
“The science and Public Health guidance no longer supports the need for mandatory vaccination, the Ministry of Long-Term Care has requested that homes revisit their policies, in the current context of the pandemic,” Garland said in her report.
She noted that as a result of the province’s request, many communities have rescinded their policies, including Simcoe, Toronto, Ottawa, Niagara, Lambton and Peel.
Grey County’s immunization policy is still in effect for staff in its three long-term care homes. The county plans to review the policy in the near future, a spokesperson said Friday.
In April 2022, Bruce County council approved amendments to its COVID-19 immunization policy, which included that all current staff must have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination and all new staff were required to have three doses.
Warden Chris Peabody said Friday that it was time for the policy to be rescinded, with the reduced risk of severe outcomes from the virus.
Peabody said some staff at the long-term care homes had been resistant to getting the vaccine.
“I am glad the policy is rescinded and that will make hiring a bit easier,” said Peabody. “You can see from all the ER closures that are being threatened in the area, the shortage of nurses and PSWs is not going away.”
Garland said in her report that guidance continues to strongly encourage everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19, including appropriate booster doses, to prevent severe illness. The homes continue to offer clinics and are encouraging staff to stay current on their vaccines.
“Human resources is working with our union partners to determine a path forward for employees whose employment with Bruce County was impacted by this policy,” the report states.
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Bruce County’s community paramedicine program has supported close to 1,000 patients since it began just over two years ago providing in-person and virtual visits to palliative patients and those awaiting long-term care placement.
Bruce County council received an update on the program on Thursday, which takes advantage of the skills, knowledge and mobility of paramedics to provide routine assessments and vital signs monitoring to the patients they serve. Through the program, it is anticipated long-term care waitlist capacity is increased, while it also reduces demand on emergency rooms, hospitals and paramedic services and increases connection to community support services.
Council heard Thursday that the program has now had 970 patients enrolled since its launch, with more than 500 patients currently active. There have been over 200 medication administrations, more than 7,000 home visits completed and more than 350 referrals to home and community care for further supports.
The program averages 12 to 20 visits per day, with each community paramedic making four to six visits per day.
“That was a really good news report, with the volume of visits they are doing and the amount of money they are saving the health-care system in terms of being proactive,” Warden Chris Peabody said Friday.
The program also provides clinics at Bruce County housing buildings where they administer routine health assessments, chronic disease screening and health education. Peabody said he is particularly impressed with those clinics, which run at county housing buildings in Wiarton and Kincardine
“They have a list of clients they visit, check up on and assess if they need any follow-up healthcare and I think that is great,” Peabody said. “Then there are the home visits and the palliative care and it just seems like a great program.”
Bruce County launched the program in early 2021 with one-time provincial funding, and since then the provincial government has established a dedicated funding stream for the work, Peabody said.
The county was also successful in receiving one-time funding of $40,000 for 2022-23 from Ontario Health to develop a program to support chronic disease management by providing patients with biometric monitoring devices to take daily vital signs. Between January and March, 60 patients were enrolled.
In Bruce County, the current funding supports eight full-time equivalent positions. There are 24 staff trained to be community paramedics in the county.
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