Health care workers affected by BC’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate are organizing to advocate for their jobs back. A digital “Hire back our Heroes” billboard went up on West Kelowna’s Bridge Hill Monday, but the people behind it don’t want to be lumped in with the anti-vaccine billboards that have covered the area for months. “This is not an ‘anti-vaccination’ campaign,” Dr. Joshua Nordine of Rutland Medical Associates said in an email to Castanet. “We believe that Covid is entering an endemic state and it is time to allow public health workers and other public service employees to return to work with reasonable safety protocols that will allow us to remain on the job now and during of any future wave of infectious disease. “ Staffing challenges have left parts of BC’s health care system in dire straits. Small-town emergency departments regularly close temporarily, cancer treatments, senior care and x-ray services struggle to find workers. The provincial government noted the relatively small number of health care workers affected by the orders as it keeps them in place. Last month, the BC Liberals called on the provincial government to follow Ottawa’s lead and suspend vaccine requirements for public servants and health workers. “British Columbia is unlike the rest of the country in this regard,” said party leader Kevin Falcon. “We have a situation now that just warrants lifting the vaccine mandate immediately.” In the Home Health area, nearly 900 workers – more than 4% of the workforce – were forced out of a job. Just 21 staff at the IH care home have been made redundant. But Dr. Nordine says these statistics don’t tell the full story. “While it is easy to dismiss these professionals in public as small in number hidden behind closed hospital doors, each individual makes a huge impact for our patients and the delivery of healthcare,” he said. In his own case, Dr. Nordine says he is no longer allowed to work at the rehab clinic in Kelowna even in a telehealth capacity. “This makes no sense as I can still work in my private clinic, which is only a four-minute walk from the rehab centre, seeing patients face-to-face, including ‘high-risk’ and ‘immunosuppressed’ patients,” he said. It can also no longer see patients at the local hospice and can no longer order blood transfusions or iron infusions for community-based patients. “It is a great shame that the various unions and advocacy groups have failed to openly support their workers’ right to medical autonomy. Because hospital boards and regulatory colleges continue to unquestioningly implement seal policies and the news agency does not support absurd policies.” “Now is the time to re-hire all our health heroes,” he concluded. Health Minister Adrian Dix last month said he did not expect changes to healthcare-related vaccine mandates “any time soon”. The health minister said the problem is not the orders but COVID-19, which continues to deeply affect the health care system. He said there is a continued need to protect long-term care and assisted living residents, as well as patients in acute care settings and the broader health care system. with a file from the Victoria Times Colonist
