Bruce Power provides pop-up isolation centre in Leamington during COVID-19 outbreaks

WINDSOR, ONT. -- Bruce Power has provided a 50-bed pop-up facility in Leamington to help as the region battles a COVID-19 outbreak affecting local agricultural workers.

The pop-up ‘isolation centre’ is located at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre. Nature Fresh Farms is one of the outbreak sites.

There are outbreaks at five Essex County workplaces, including two agricultural facilities in Leamington and two agricultural facilities in Kingsville and a manufacturing facility in Leamington. The region has seen about 750 positive cases in the agri-farm sector.

The pop-up facility includes beds, dividers, gloves, gowns and linens and is ready to be activated if or when it is needed.

Bruce Power previously donated 20,000 masks and a quantity of hand sanitizer to Essex County and working through the Ontario Ministry of Health, arranged for the mobile unit.

“We secured the hospital equipment for just this type of situation and we want Ontario to know we’re here for you and that by working together, we will get through this and come out of this pandemic stronger and more united than we’ve ever been,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s president and CEO.

“When we work together, good things happen an as our economy begins to recover our collective commitment to safe practices, such as good hand hygiene, physical distancing, cleaning, and wearing a mask when less than two-metres apart are more important than ever,” added Rencheck.

Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald is thanking Bruce Power for the donation of the isolation pods.

“This proactive measure will provide additional isolation space should the need arise as we continue to combat COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex,” says MacDonald. “A municipality our size cannot do this on our own, and it is reassuring to know we have partners like Bruce Power coming to the aid of our community.”

In April, the Bruce Power Retooling and Economic Recovery Council (www.rerc.ca) was formed to operate for the duration of the pandemic and includes all of Bruce Power’s Ontario-based suppliers, many of whom are located in rural communities across the province.

The focus has been and will be on continued retooling of the supply chain to meet front-line COVID-19 needs and to contribute to the province’s economy recovery in the short, medium and long term.

“Bruce Power and its partners in the Ontario nuclear supply chain have demonstrated incredible leadership and caring since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Government and Consumer Services and MPP for Huron-Bruce.

Since April 1, Bruce Power has provided approximately 1.5-million pieces of PPE to health-care, front-line, essential-needs and other workers in Grey, Bruce and Huron counties in addition to other parts of Ontario.

“On behalf of the County of Essex, we want to thank Bruce Power and its employees for their generosity and willingness to lend a helping hand,” said Essex County warden Gary McNamara. “By working together, we will combat the threat of COVID-19 in our communities.”