In the City of Toronto’s ongoing efforts to reduce COVID-19 spread, Toronto Public Health (TPH) is pleased to announce a partnership with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). Through this partnership TPH will hire more local registered nurses (RNs) to support case and contact management efforts, and support public health work as we move towards the COVID-19 recovery stage.
Through this partnership the RNAO through its COVID-19 VIANurse Program is actively recruiting RNs to join TPH’s case and contact management team for the next three months. Case and contact identification and management work is a critical component of the COVID-19 response that helps us to understand how COVID-19 is circulating and what we can to do to protect our community. Through this work people who are identified as COVID-19 positive and their close contacts are quickly isolated for 14 days to prevent further virus spread.
As the City moves into the COVID-19 recovery stage, TPH needs to be prepared in the event that additional staff may be required to respond to a potential surge in COVID-19 activity. This could result from further new cases from community spread as a result of public health measures being eased. TPH will also soon resume essential public health programs and services that are needed as we move further into the COVID-19 recovery phase.
The support provided by RNAO demonstrates the importance and impact of health system collaboration at a critical time. To expedite the hiring process, TPH will provide online and in-person training to quickly onboard new staff.
Quotes:
“The City of Toronto and Toronto Public Health are doing everything we can to respond to this health emergency. This new partnership will help public health continue to ramp up its ongoing efforts to protect our residents and quickly track down people who may have been exposed to COVID-19. These efforts have helped save lives and will continue to save lives in our city as we move into the recovery stage.”
– Mayor John Tory
“For months public health officials have been working non-stop to save lives and prevent mass outbreaks in our city. This work continues and this important partnership will help to ensure that the team at Toronto Public Health is able to continue this critical life-saving work as we move to the COVID-19 recovery phase. I thank the RNAO and local nurses for their support towards protecting our city.”
– Councillor Joe Cressy, Chair Toronto Board of Health, Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York
“I am pleased to share news of this partnership and I sincerely thank the RNAO for their generous support of our COVID-19 response. We’ve had a very positive response to our job call thus far from RNAO’s VIANurses who are enthusiastic about this important opportunity. My team and I look forward to welcoming these colleagues to work with us on our COVID-19 response.”
– Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Officer of Health
“We are delighted that RNAO’s COVID-19 VIANurse continues to serve our province. Launched on March 12, the program has deployed thousands of registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students to 313 health organizations across Ontario. Our team knows the 120 RNs joining TPH next week will be a powerful asset to tackle the Unit’s response to the pandemic. RNAO is honoured to partner in protecting the health of our community.”
– Doris Grinspun, RN, MSN, PhD, LLD(hon), Dr(hc), FAAN, O.ONT., CEO, RNAO
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