A fraction of the employees of the Red Cross will be in NURSING homes by the end of the week.
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July 29, 2020 17h23
Updated at 18h23
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Red cross: a fraction of the employees promised in a CHSLD by the end of the week
Catherine Lévesque
The canadian Press
OTTAWA — The canadian Red Cross had 160 employees working in accommodation centres, and long-term care (CHSLD) in Quebec in date of Monday. By the end of the week, they will be 235.
This is well below the 900 pairs of arms promised by the prime minister Justin Trudeau to compensate for the withdrawal of members of the canadian armed Forces, came to lend a hand in NURSING homes at the height of the pandemic in the province.
The director of communications of the Red Cross, Carole Du Sault, said to The canadian Press that the organization had retained 957 applications up to now.
“To this day, we still 700 people trained. We are talking about having done it within three to four weeks. We consider that it is still a high number of people that it was set in motion. (…) These people are willing to be on the ground,” she explained.
The Red Cross had promised, and delivered 150 people in NURSING homes of the province on 6 July and provided that a further 750 would be added by July 29th. The president-director general of the organization said he was confident to find 900 people to date.
Gold, with 235 people, that is just over a quarter of the promised resources that will help in the CHSLD within a few days.
“The ministry (of Health) has identified that there were needs for this number of people, and we are going to deploy in sites as needs are identified”, said Mrs Du Sault, adding that there is “no specific date” for the planned deployment of 900 people on the ground.
The canadian armed Forces, for their part, have officially ended their deployment in a CHSLD. There remain, however, ten military teams, composed of a nurse and six medical technicians each, to help in case of need. These teams will be available until August 15.
The office of the prime minister of Quebec, François Legault, one seems to be satisfied with the help offered by Ottawa and we are pleased that “the vast majority of living environments for older people (to be) under control,” at the present time.
“The federal government has assured us that staff are available and ready to be deployed in our ltc facility as the pandemic will not be resolved in its entirety. It is the commitment that we have obtained,” said Ewan Bounds, a spokesman for Mr. Legault.
“If the situation on the ground requires it, the CISSS and CIUSSS will not hesitate to call on more resources of the Red Cross,” added Mr. Bounds.
The support of the Red Cross must continue until 15 September, the date on which the first cohort of 10 000 new assistants to the beneficiaries as required by Quebec should be trained and ready to respond to a potential second wave of cases of COVID-19.
