WRH reveals COVID-19 vaccination policy for staff and volunteers
Windsor Regional Hospital has revealed a new COVID-19 vaccination policy that will take effect for all staff next month.
A memo sent to staff on Tuesday said the policy will be effective Sept. 7 for anyone who works or volunteers at the hospital.
“We recognize the importance of immunization to reduce the risk of serious infection and transmission of infection to co-workers, patients and anyone visiting our facilities,” said the memo.
All staff are being asked to declare their vaccination status. There are four responses that can be declared:
- 1. I have received at least one dose of the vaccine and will receive a second dose when offered or when able to do so, based on WRH and/or provincial criteria (also if you have had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine select this one).
- 2. I am unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons. (Note: Documentation will be required to be
- submitted to Health Services).
- 3. I have chosen not to be vaccinated at this time.
- 4. I prefer not to provide WRH with my vaccination status.
All staff in categories 2, 3, and 4 arriving on WRH premises for any work or education related activities will be required to participate in the self-administered COVID-19 testing program.
They will be required to be asymptomatic and have completed a negative test PRIOR to entering the worksite. Staff are to conduct a rapid swab test twice per week – Sunday and Wednesday before noon - regardless of the timing of their next shift. (Testing kits will be provided by WRH).
“You have patients coming into the hospital, they expect it to be a safe environment. The best way to make it a safe environment is to make sure everyone involved in healthcare is either vaccinated or test themselves regularly,” said WRH chief of staff Dr. Wassim Saad.
WRH says immediately, they are asking all employees, affiliates, professional staff and students to access a password-protected link and disclose what category above applies to their situation. The hospital says it is a secure site and only linked to staff health office.
Once they have the answer they will arrange a date and time staff that need to participate in the self-administered COVID-19 testing program can pick-up their testing kits.
“We are not forcing anyone to do anything that is outside of their comfort zone,” Dr. Saad said. “Some people legitimately cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons and we are okay with that, but if you’re going to come into the hospital and work at the hospital and look after patients, we’re asking that you test yourself twice a week and ensure that you are continually negative for COVID and you don’t unwillingly and unknowingly pass it on to a patient.”
Staff who test positive on the rapid test must contact Employee Health and arrange for a confirmatory diagnostic PCR test at an Assessment Centre. They will need to self-isolate at home pending the result of the confirmatory test.
Managers/medical affairs will receive/review compliance reports for follow-up. Compliance reports will verify that the COVID-19 program has been completed, but they will not provide information related to with which component of the program staff have complied.
WRH said failure to comply with the COVID-19 program may result in discipline up to, and including, termination of employment and revocation of privileges.
“This applies to hospital staff and physicians,” Saad said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask them to either show us their evidence vaccine or test themselves regularly. But if they insist on not doing either of those and not following the policy they could potentially put patients at risk or other visitors to our hospital at risk and we just can’t have that. I hope it never gets to that point with anyone that works at the hospital but if it does get to that point then we have a process in a mechanism to go through with anyone that does not follow the policy.”
CTV News Windsor reached out to the Ontario Nurses Association, but they were not available to provide a comment on the new policy Wednesday.
The hospital will be holding a “Virtual Town Hall” with all WRH staff on Thursday Aug. 5, 2021 at noon.
About 90 per cent of WRH staff are already vaccinated.
- With files from CTV Windsor's Alana Hadadean.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.