The impact of COVID on recruitment was one of the early themes for the night as local and regional health officials outlined how challenging it has been to bring in new medical professionals in the last few years and to relay some of the lessons that they have learned over the last eighteen months.
As well, they noted how patient loads have ebbed and flowed through the system over the course of our COVID times and the importance of vaccinations towards a solution to the virus.
At the end of the near two hour presentation, Prince Rupert Council members also sought out some more localized information on the Northern Health work on COVID.
Some of that questioning was led off by Councillor Wade Niesh who asked towards any loss of health care workers not working locally owing to the recent Public Health order on mandated vaccinations.
In reply, Doctor Guillame Coetzee observed that among the physicians staff in Prince Rupert there were no absences in place owing to the COVID mandate.
While Ciro Panessa the Chief Operating Officer for Northern Health in the Northwest and Julia Pemberton the Health Services Administrator with Northern Health in Prince Rupert noted that the number towards other medical care workers was low in the region with only a handful, said to be at less than a dozen.
"Our west cluster is very minimally impacted by the PHO order, my biggest concern for losing staff is burnout and fatigue, it's not the PHO order I would say under a dozen" -- Julia Pemberton
Councillor Randhawa asked towards the current status of COVID in the community, and what further measures are in place, or coming up towards the COVID response in the community.
Mr. Panessa opened that discussion with a review of the recent immunization program in the Prince Rupert area.
"Although you've done tremendous, incredible work as a community and you have very good vaccination rates ... But the biggest advice to you is if there is anyone that isn't vaccinated then we would strongly encourage that, to engage with their family physician if they have questions. Or some of the myriad resources that are out there provincially and on the Northern Health website to answer questions that people have"
The Terrace based Chief Operating Officer for the Northwest also offered up a snapshot of COVID in the northwest at the moment.
"We are still very much in the midst of a fourth wave if we look at it from a Northern perspective. You know I think I continue to be hopeful and optimistic that we see the benefits in communities like Prince Rupert and out west here from the immunization.
But there are still clusters that we are seeing across the north, there is transmission still occurring across the north. And it is stretching, even the transmission we are seeing among those who are primarily unvaccinated, is stretching us to the max.
It's leading to ongoing hospital admissions, the Delta variant is more serious than the original variant, and so even though we've got a lot of people vaccinated the transmission that is occurring among the unvaccinated is making them very sick and leading them to need hospital care and its stretching medical teams immensely.
We're hopeful that we are kind of at a plateau, I guess to describe it that way as a fourth wave ... and hopeful that we will be on a slowly improving trend here out of this fourth wave and hopefully if the vaccination rates are high enough and all going well, then hopefully this can be a final wave for us, is what we all hope, but we're not out of it yet" -- Northern Health , Northwest COO Ciro Penessa on COVID in the North
Dr. Coetzee also observed of the local situation and the value of immunization.
"I'm very grateful to everyone who did choose to roll up their sleeves and take the vaccine I recognize that for some people it's very difficult to make that decision. But I can assure you from from my first hand experience caring for patients over the last eighteen months with COVID that the vaccine honestly, in my best medical opinion, is safe and clearly effective.
So I would encourage you if you're having concerns please have that conversation with your physician with your care provider there is nothing in it for us but your best interests. So if Ciro wasn't clear enough, get vaccinated. -- Prince Rupert physician Guiallme Coetzee
As part of the overview Mr. Panessa also outlined some of the themes towards the upcoming Booster Clinic for the northwest. highlighting which groups will be addressed first as the program moves forward in to 2022.
For her part on that topic of booster immunization, Ms. Pemberton spoke to how the Prince Rupert area will be addressed by that booster campaign.
She outlined first that as a community Prince Rupert is currently at over 90 percent vaccinated with a first dose and over 85 percent for a second dose, though she noted that still leaves over 1,000 residents of the region still to be fully vaccinated.
Adding how it's important to reach out to those who have yet to get vaccinated and if people in Prince Rupert know of people yet to be vaccinate to talk with them to stress the importance of the program.
She also observed that Northern Health is still hosting opportunities for those first and second doses through their public health teams and services through their Ocean Centre offices.
Towards the booster program, she noted of the importance of being registered with Immunize BC and then provided a look at what the program ahead will look like.
"We will not be doing a large community mass clinic like we did for dose one and dose two.
So what it will be is that Immunize BC will be notifying everybody in like a roll out to make sure we don't overwhelm our services ... There isn't the urgency to the booster campaign as there was for dose one and dose two.
We are securing additional space in the Ocean Mall, where it will be kind of immunization headquarters until the Spring" -- Julia Pemberton from Northern Health
On the theme of mandated vaccinations, while Councillor Niesh noted of the provisions in place for health care workers across the province and in Prince Rupert; the City of Prince Rupert has not indicated publicly, nor has the council membership discussed the topic in a Council session, as to what if any mandated vaccine policy is in place at the Municipal level.
When it comes to COVID measures locally, the city has made it a requirement for those using some of the civic services to be vaccinated and to have their vaccine passports available to take part in activities at the community level.
The requirement of a municipal vaccination mandate for civic workers is something that the Town of Smithers recently adopted using a federal model towards their roll out of the requirement.
As well in this region, to date, School District 52 has not stated publicly if they have a mandated vaccination policy in place for staff and administration in the community.
The review of the COVID themes of the Monday presentation for the most part are addressed at the one hour thirty minute mark of the evening.
You can review our previous notes from Monday's Health Care presentation below:
November 10 -- Back to the Future for Health Care advocacy as Northern Health/City Council explore reboot of previous program
November 10 -- Health Care overview for council provide a look at current challenges, hopes for improving situation in 2022
For more items of interest from the Monday Council Session see our Council Timeline and Council Meeting archive page.
A wider overview of Health care in Prince Rupert can be explored here.
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