Direct-care workers on unpaid leave grows slightly in Manitoba

WINNIPEG -

The number of direct-care workers placed on unpaid leave related to compliance with public health orders continues to grow.

Shared Health said that by the end of Thursday, 178 workers were on unpaid leave. This is up from the 176 that were announced at the end of day Wednesday.

The majority of the workers are in the Southern Health Region with 105. The Prairie Mountain Health Region has 29, 21 are in Winnipeg, 16 are in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region, five are with Shared Health and two are in the Northern Health Region.

Shared Health added a previous count in the Interlake area resulted in an over count.

There are roughly 42,000 direct-care workers in the province and of those, 37,473 participated in the disclosure process. Out of that group, 35,642 are fully vaccinated, while 1,831 workers require testing.

Shared Health said 94.6 per cent of those who disclosed their information have been validated.

A spokesperson said the majority of facilities are not seeing significant impacts, but the Southern Health Region is redeploying staff from other programs.

"This includes Eastview Altona and Salem Home in Winkler. Additional resources from the COVID-19 casual pool and a pool internationally educated nurses have also volunteered to provide staffing support in the area and are being scheduled," the spokesperson said.

"Additionally, home care clients and families in the Winkler area were notified last week that some priority services were being temporarily suspended and back-up plans should be considered. This includes services like meal prep for individuals whose family members are available to assist, household maintenance, etc."