WINNIPEG -- Red River College (RRC) announced Friday it is donating more equipment, and dedicating more people and resources to public health services in the province to fight COVID-19.
Almost 40 students from RRC’s health sciences and nursing programs have been volunteers at local hospitals to do enter-point screening. According to the college, Shared Health is currently converting some of these roles into paid positions.
Fourteen other students from RRC’s health information management program have joined Manitoba Health’s department of epidemiology and surveillance. They will be tracking and collecting data on the spread of the virus.
“We’re especially proud of how many of our staff and students are stepping forward to put their skills and expertise to work supporting those on the frontlines of our province’s public health efforts,” said Christine Watson, interim president and CEO, in a news release.
The college’s director of procurement, Jade Karsin, has been temporally reassigned to help establish a request process of personal protective equipment and to put into effect a new warehouse for critical medical supplies to better support provincial needs.
“I’m proud to work for an organization that supports this greater community effort,” he said. “This experience is a great example of how different organizations can work together to really make a difference.”
Other RRC staff members, who belong to the Canadian Army Reserves, are standing by to help the healthcare worker frontlines, or respond to floods and fires if they are called on to do so.
The college’s Technology Access Center for Aerospace & Manufacturing, which has a 3D printer, will help Health Canada and the National Research Council to manufacture medical supplies if needed.
