The number of COVID-19 cases is still counted in the thousands daily in Quebec and organizations that house homeless people are calling for more measures to help them deal with potential breakdowns in services due to the contamination of their employees.
“It is certain that we are currently experiencing enormous challenges in terms of personnel. We want to keep all of our services open, and they’re 24/7, says Old Brewery Mission CEO James Hughes. The faster that people can get back to work, the better. The new rules that allow a faster return of asymptomatic employees would be very relevant to us. “
The organization is in discussions with Public Health to see if the measures announced last week by Quebec could apply to its employees. The Old Brewery mission is a non-profit organization independent of the health and social services network, which makes it less clear whether it can, for example, reduce the isolation time of its employees. “Until we get some clarification, we are still with the usual isolation period, says the CEO. We are ready to step back on the pedal as soon as possible.” Others, like the Welcome Hall Mission, can already apply the new rules because they are part of the network.
About ten employees are currently off the Old Brewery Mission, a “very difficult” situation that is changing every day. The organization has also stopped doing business with volunteers, who sometimes help out in the kitchens in particular, because of the outbreak of Omicron.
Like other organizations, James Hughes would also like his employees to have faster access to screening tests and results, as healthcare workers do, and to more rapid tests.
A crying lack of resources
“I have three screening employees, and three employees who have COVID-19,” says Mélanie Walsh, director of Auberge Madeleine, which employs 35 people. “Usually it takes three or four days to get the results. To go without an employee for four days when the workforce is already stretched to the maximum, it is catastrophic, ”she adds, speaking of the specific case of an employee who was in contact with a positive user.
The 26-bed homeless women’s resource is “constantly on the fine line of service disruption,” she said. This, in addition to having to deal with a crying lack of resources for women. “We are unable to refer them to regular resources, who are struggling to offer their services at full capacity,” says Mélanie Walsh. She specifies that it is therefore necessary to refer them to drop-in centers, which offer almost no services, and that there are safety issues for the women who find themselves in the street.
There is also an issue of accessing quick tests. “They start to trickle down to us and are told it’s only for the residents of our resources,” she says. The organization was told last Thursday by Public Health that it could not reduce the time of isolation to less than 10 days for its employees. But Mélanie Walsh wonders anyway if users are not too vulnerable to speed up a return to work. “I have a lot of women who are over 60 and have physical health problems, they are very vulnerable,” she says. Are the Public Health recommendations suitable for a resource like ours? “.
The Welcome Hall Mission also supports better access to rapid tests, even if the organization does not yet have many cases of COVID-19 among its employees. “I think that would be ideal, because there are only 1,500 people serving people in need in Montreal, so it’s a small ecosystem,” said President and CEO Sam Watts.