From Karen Biggs, CEO, to the Menno Place Team – Thoughts on Vaccine

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Dear Staff,

As you are likely aware, multiple COVID vaccines will be approved for use shortly.  It is unclear when we, as long term care workers in Canada, will be able to access the vaccine but our government has committed that our residents and staff will be offered it first hopefully in the next 6 months. On December 7th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the planned arrival of 249,000 Pfizer vaccines late next week, the Pfizer vaccine takes two shots per person so this will cover 124,500 people.  He also said another 3 million doses are coming next year.  I’m sending this email because I have heard some staff express concerns about taking a newly approved vaccine.  I hope that all of you will carefully assess your upcoming decision and make the choice to get vaccinated.  There has been no information as to if there will some requirement for certain workers to be vaccinated.

Here are some thoughts on the vaccine:

  1. It protects our elders’ lives.  Even if they get the vaccine, we know that the efficacy of vaccines administered to our elders is not as high as when staff take the vaccines.  Translation:  Some residents will not be protected by the COVID vaccine.  We are their protection.
  2. It protects us from COVID.  COVID is a dangerous virus that can kill us.  If we are healthy, this is possible but the chances of this are low.  However, the chances of serious long term side effects are significant.  Some research shows that 50% of people who contract COVID end up with permanent lung scarring and decreased lung function.  There are numerous other possible documented long term effects of contracting the virus.  In short, you don’t want to contract this virus.  This is not the flu.
  3. It protects society at large.  Vaccines are not valuable if people don’t take them.  The more people that take the vaccine, the less likely it is that people in the community will contract it.
  4. It protects our economy.  If we can decrease the prevalence of COVID, society can start to return to the pre-pandemic normal.  We miss movies and concerts and restaurants.  We all want life back to how it was.
  5. It protects our families and those we love.  One celebrity whose partner contracted COVID and almost died said she did not realize that the restrictions were not about protecting her own life.  She said she now understood that the restrictions were about protecting that one person that she loved with all her heart and could not imagine life without.  While we may be willing to risk our own lives, are we willing to risk the lives of that one person or multiple people we love in that way by not taking the vaccine?  Are we willing to risk the lives of our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, significant others and best friends?
  6. We get to stop having COVID outbreaks and fearing COVID outbreaks in long term care.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?  I forget what my co-workers faces look like.
  7. The vaccines have gone through large trials and the drug companies are highly motivated to make sure their vaccine is safe.  They have completed trials with at least 30,000 people.  If they distribute a vaccine that is not safe, it would likely be the end of that huge multi-billion dollar drug company.  They realize the risks and are not cutting corners.
  8. As with any drug, there is the chance that something was missed and there is a longer term side effect that no one is aware of.  However, vaccines are some of the safest drugs that we take, in comparison to other drugs.  And most of us take these other potentially more dangerous drugs every day.  Perhaps most importantly, if you are concerned about the risk of a vaccine, I think you have to ask yourself the following question:  Which risk would you prefer to take:

The risk of a possible unknown and likely minor side effect from a COVID vaccine OR

Catching COVID and risking dying or having a chance of lung scarring for the rest of your life?

Please think carefully about your own role within the health system and the community at large.  Don’t hesitate to bring your questions or concerns about this or anything else at any time.  We are in this fight together. I plan to do a Virtual Townhall on December 16 at 2pm so staff can ask the me and the Executive Team any questions about our Pandemic Response Plan which is in place trying to protect you and our residents.

Sincerely, Karen Biggs, CEO

COVID Resources: Managing Anxiety

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Encouragement for the Frontline

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We put together two separate forms for the community to fill out – for your encouragement. Take some time on during your break or when you are feeling really tired, or discouraged or defeated – and read these amazing words of encouragement.

These pages are updated in real-time. Keep coming back. You’ll be glad you did.

From the Families, Friends and Residents: CLICK HERE TO READ ENCOURAGEMENT FROM FAMILIES

From the Abbotsford Community: CLICK HERE TO READ ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE COMMUNITY

 

 

 

A letter from a daughter – thanks for what you do

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Dear Karen,

This letter is so long overdue. There were many times in the last 9 months that I have meant to sit down and attempt to express the gratitude I have for you and your team at Menno Place. My sister shared a post this morning on Facebook, a prayer for the staff at your facility as they navigate this difficult time that puts them and the residents at such risk of such an invisible yet malicious and unknown threat. It reminded me that I had not yet done what I promised myself I would do after my dad died; find some way to express the deep gratitude I have for you and your amazing team.

My Dad, JPM, spent the last years of his life at Menno Place (Chalet). He passed away on February 27 of this year; just weeks before the world as we know it shut down. Seeing how this virus has affected facilities like yours, I am eternally grateful that he passed when he did and that we were able to spend time with him in his final days.

When he first entered the facility, I admit we were not that impressed with the “esthetics” (for lack of a better word) of the ward he was assigned. We all were in some denial, I think, about how bad his disease had become. The grip it had on him and the stage that the professionals had diagnosed him to be in. I think we imagined that he could still live somewhat independently with some assistance. It was hard to admit that was not the case, but we eventually accepted it.

I did not visit my dad as often as my other siblings (for a few reasons, but mostly because I do not live a quick drive away). But when I did visit, I was completely blown away by the staff in the facility.

I will try to find the words to describe how wonderful, caring, attentive, knowledgeable, and LOVING they were towards my dad:

For a team that deals with death on a regular basis, you would think my dad was the first person they walked through the journey with. I don’t mean that as in “amateur” I mean that as in compassionate. My family and I felt so special and loved by complete strangers who guided us through the most difficult time of our lives thus far. Although they do this likely every day or at least a few times a month, they did not act complacent toward us and our dad. They explained everything that was happening to him so beautifully – which was extremely helpful because, when you have never seen the process of dying, it’s a little bit scary and shocking.

I was so happy to see that he wasn’t alone. Whenever I arrived before family, there was someone sitting with him. Praying with him, holding his hand, calming him when he seemed agitated and always with beautiful music playing in the background.

Your volunteers had provided handmade shawls to envelope my sisters and my stepmom in warmth and love as they sat with my dad during his transition. I am so thankful for those volunteers and the time and love they put into helping people they would never meet. It’s an act of kindness that may not ever get properly acknowledged so I hope I can do that through this letter.

I would also like to thank the families of every single one of your staff who support them as they do this very important work. I know there are probably a lot of staff that have sacrificed time at home to work overtime and cover for co-workers that have to isolate. You, too, are heroes for lending us your loved ones.

I could go on and on.

I hope this letter reaches all of you and helps you to know that what you do, what you have chosen to do as a career, is SO appreciated. What you do matters. It has immense value and I am thankful that my dad got to meet you all. I am grateful our family was fortunate enough to meet you all and I hope that you are staying healthy.

With love, appreciation, and deep gratitude,

A grateful daughter, D

Thank you from the Abbotsford Division of Family Practice Long-Term Care

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Dear Menno Home staff,

The Abbotsford Division of Family Practice Long-Term Care (LTC) Program recognizes and greatly values your ongoing critical work. The care you provide to residents is essential.

Thank you for all that you do in caring for the precious elderly members in our community. By supporting residents you are also supporting their families and the physicians of the LTC program. We are so appreciative!

We hope that the attached picture of Abbotsford physicians and LTC site staff brings a smile to your face.

With gratitude,

Dr. Shelley Dhillon, Physician Lead, LTC Program

Danielle Edwards, Program Lead, LTC Program

We’ve invited the community to decorate our campus

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If you see decorations popping up around the Menno Place campus, you will know that this is the heart of the community giving you a message of hope and support. We shared on www.Facebook.com/Mennoplace and to our families that we need them right now – and that decorating trees and bushes is one way of telling our staff and residents that the community is with us.

Here’s what we wrote:

**Would you like to encourage the Menno Place staff and residents? **

We have an idea… maybe it’s a bit “out there”, but we think it will feel joyful and wonderful and encouraging. We need some cheer – and so do you!
These are strange times and we need a boost of hope and joy and love and peace. Our staff need a boost of encouragement and energy and smiles. Our residents need a boost, knowing that the community is cheering them on.
So, what’s our big idea?

We are inviting the people who love and care for seniors and Menno Place to come here and decorate any of our trees and shrubs around the campus. We are asking you to come to us and show your support by making our trees and bushes alive with joy and love and strength and community support.

 

We welcome you with your ornaments and your ribbons and your dangly-doos and your happy sounds. Bring your instruments, your voices, your prayers and your good will as you decorate. Bring your banners and signs and glitter and ribbons. We welcome it all! Cut loose and bring us the cheer of Christmas – and cheer us on!

 

Bring your families and school cohorts. Be safe, and come and bring your joy! We want you here. We want to see you cheering us on. We need you.

 

We don’t have plugins, so electrical displays are not an option, but we welcome everything else that beautifies.

 

There’s a familiar Christmas story that many of us watch every year – it’s all about how a Grinch tried to steal Christmas from the good people of Whoville. Nothing could stop Christmas – nothing.
Even when every part of traditional Christmas was taken from them, the Who’s in Whoville sang:
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we. 

We need you. Will come and bring the Christmas love and cheer? Nothing, even COVID, can stop the love and togetherness that we have as a community. Will you show us your support?

Menno Place in the Media – Media Relations

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Menno Place is being featured on a wide variety of television and radio news stations. Karen Biggs, CEO, has been explaining to the media how and why we’ve decided to create the Temporary Skilled Workers position for family members to work as employees who support housekeeping, dietary and laundry.

Here is an example of an interview with Karen, done by News 1130 – CLICK HERE

Karen has been interviewed by CBC, The Current, CTV, Global TV and many others.

As the media becomes more interested in the Menno Home outbreak and our unique response, it seems like a good time to remind ourselves of our Media Relations policy:

POLICY AP 2.29

MEDIA RELATIONS

1.0 Policy:

To ensure an informed and approved spokesperson represents the Society in compliance with the policy for confidentiality.

2.0 Procedures:

  • Only the Board Chair and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) are authorized to make statements or release information to the media. Other members of the Executive Team may be authorized to represent Menno Place with the media as required.
  • All requests from the media must be referred to the Board Chair or the CEO for response.
  • All members of the media must be accompanied by an Executive Team member or Board Chair when on the Menno Place campus. If any staff member sees a reporter, photographer or videographer unaccompanied, they will contact the CEO to escort the member(s) of the media off-site.

 

Menno Home – Emergency Family Essential Service Workers

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Emergency Measures to fill essential service staff shortages

As we face staff shortages in Menno Home, we are doing everything we can to fill the gaps. Staff in essential services are becoming weary and we need to find creative ways to get help from motivated, safety-conscious people.

We have reached out to restaurants, to schools, to our volunteers and to contracted workers. We are at an emergency level of need to find housekeepers in Menno Home. This has come about by the cloistering of staff to work in only one unit for the duration of the outbreak. There are some staff that are essential who can work in more than one unit (ex. Maintenance). The rest of the staff are assigned to a unit and can’t move between them.

Along with this, our staff who tested negative but don’t work on the COVID outbreak unit in Menno Home were required by the Medical Health Officer to stay in isolation for 14 days. This has made it extremely difficult to find staff to fill the shifts. We have very tired staff working in Menno Home. Thank you, all for your service. We are working hard to get you support.

We had a creative idea – one that would be a WIN-WIN – family members could provide essential services and we would give them opportunity to see their loved one (socially distanced and full PPE) by bringing them on as EMERGENCY FAMILY ESSENTIAL SERVICE WORKERS.

We are inviting them to participate in essential services (housekeeping, dietary, laundry and deliveries) in order to get us through the challenges of exhausting our staff and not having enough staff in place to create a safe environment for residents and staff.

MENNO HOME – EMERGENCY FAMILY ESSENTIAL SERVICE WORKERS

As we face the shortages in essential services, such as housekeeping, food services and laundry, we are reaching out to family and close friends to offer their support as temporary relief workers. We have created an opportunity for family members of our residents to be employed with Menno Home for this short time while we have gaps to fill in staffing – and to give our staff relief. Families are invited to work on the unit where their loved one works.

Family members will be able to connect with your loved one, wearing full PPE and socially distanced during their shift. They must be able to physically do the work, including lifting 20lbs. They do not have to be the Designated Visitor. This is an opportunity for children and grandchildren as well. This emergency program is open to multiple family members of loved ones in Menno Home. They will be required to complete a Vulnerable Persons Criminal Record Check (cost covered by Menno Place).

We are collecting names of family members who are eager to help and we will be contacting them for their support. They will be expected to follow all the protocols of the staff.

We will keep you updated as we progress with this idea and find relief for our staff.

You’re doing a good job – From CEO, Karen Baille

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Read more

Update – Pandemic Pay for Staff

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Update – Pandemic Pay for Staff

The BC Temporary Pandemic Pay Program was announced on May 7, 2020 by the federal government. On September 16th, employers were permitted to submit the straight-time hours worked by front-line health care from March 15 – July 4, 2020. The government information on Temporary Pandemic Pay is online – CLICK HERE

As of today, November 26, 2020, Menno Place has not received any funding to pass to employees for the Temporary Pandemic pay.

Menno Place submitted our claims for employee hours earlier than the Oct. 31st deadline for submissions. The Ministry of Finance has informed us that the funding may continue to be issued until December 31, 2020 as submissions are processed. We learned today that there are 8200 plus submissions for Pandemic Pay across the province and the hold-up is due to the Ministry of Health validating the claims that can takes up to 3-4 weeks, after which the health authority validates for 2-3 weeks and another 1-2 weeks to be paid by the Ministry. It is a long process and probably looking at 4-6 weeks for pandemic pay to be received. We have not been able to find out from the government what order they are approving submissions in spite of our CEO asking weekly on calls with the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible to issue the funding to Menno Place who will then be responsible to distribute this to each of our eligible employees as a lump sum on a regular paycheck.

We have heard through our staff that some other care homes have received their funding and dispersed it to their employees. So far, the only one that our CEO knows about is the Fraser Health Authority which may have different funding sources.

We are very disappointed that this is taking so long to get to you, especially as some staff have indicated that it may impact your perspective on whether or not Menno Place values your work and sacrifice during this pandemic. Please know that we are very proud of your work, your vigilance in following COVID protocols and the hard work it has taken to keep this virus out of Menno Place. We are proud of the work you are doing during the Outbreak – the Menno Home staff are at 9 days of droplet precautions and Menno Hospital has just begun. We know it is physically and mentally challenging – and we thank you for the good work that you do each day.

Now that we’ve entered COVID Outbreak in both Home and Hospital, we are even more aware of how discouraging it is to be promised additional pay and at the same time asked to do the additional effort and sacrifice that is required with droplet precautions and increased COVID protocols. We were excited about the announcement in May, knowing that you are deserving of this recognition of your skill and tenacity – as is the entire sector of employees who care for the seniors in our communities across this province. We know that the pandemic pay would give you a very real encouragement that your work is valued. Instead, this long process has discouraged the very people that it was intended to honor.

Karen Biggs, our Chief Executive Officer, is committed to making payments through our Payroll Department as soon as the funding arrives. Pandemic Pay will be given to those in eligible roles which include RNs, LPNs, HCAs, Administrative / clerical support roles and essential non-clinical services such as Food service workers, housekeepers, laundry workers, maintenance, deliveries and other key roles. It will arrive in a lump sum on one paycheck. We will notify you when we receive the funding from the BC government.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • What criteria need to be met in order to be eligible for Temporary Pandemic Pay?
    Employees who worked straight-time hours at any point during the 16-week period starting on March 1, 2020 and ending July 4, 2020
  • Does the employee have to work full-time during this period to qualify?
    No, all employees, irrespective, of whether they worked full-time, part-time, casual, or temporary are eligible if they meet the criteria (above).
    This includes working during statutory holiday.
  • Do overtime hours worked on a statutory holiday count as straight-time?
    Yes, but for hours worked only, not at a premium. For example, 8 hours on a Sunday counts as 8 hours only, not time and a half.
  • Do overtime hours worked count as straight-time?
    Yes. The Temporary Pandemic Pay is a flat-rate, and would not be grossed up when working overtime or on holiday.
  • Do management positions in the organization qualify?
    No. Management and executive positions withing the organization are not eligible for the temporary pandemic pay.
  • Are programs that transitioned to remote or virtual service delivery models eligible for pandemic pay?
    Yes, front-line employees are eligible for pandemic pay irrespective if they were working remotely or on-site at their usual workplace.
  • Are contracted service providers eligible?
    Yes, non-management employees of contracted providers who deliver direct services or support services are eligible for the pandemic pay.
  • Are employers funded from different sources still eligible?
    Yes, however, the Temporary Pandemic Pay is a top-up that is proportionate to the funding the employer receives from the provincial government.
  • If an employee has resigned or retired (left) the organization during or after the 16-week period March 15 – July 4, 2020, are they eligible for the pandemic pay?
    Yes, on a pro-rated basis. This applies to straight-time hours worked during that period.
    Terminated employees are not eligible for the pandemic pay.
  • Are employees hired after March 15, 2020 eligible?
    These employees receive pandemic pay for the straight-time hours worked during the applicable time period if they meet all the eligibility criteria.
  • Is the time spent on COVID-19 leave or required isolation due to possible COVID-19 exposure eligible for the pandemic pay?
    No, any kind of leave (eg. sick leave, parental leave, vacation, short/long-term disability, etc.) including one cause by COVID-19 is not eligible for the pandemic pay.
  • Is the pandemic pay taxable?
    Yes, the pandemic pay is taxable.
  • Why can’t employees get their lump-sum on a separate cheque so that they pay less tax?
    Payroll departments do not issue separate pay checks for adds-to-pay (overtime, substitution pay, premiums, etc.) or retractive lump sum adjustments such as pandemic pay.
    The software used to calculate payroll and taxation uses taxation methods and formulas approved by the Canada Revenue Agency. These formulas cover federal income tax, provincial income tax, contributions to the Canada Pension Plan and premiums for the Employment Insurance program. Neither the employer nor payroll alters these formulas in any way.
    When Temporary Pandemic Pay recipients file their taxes next year, their earnings from all sources will be reviewed by the Canada Revenue Agency and adjustments are made as necessary.