U of M health-care students asked to go to First Nations to help with COVID-19 response

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Health-care students and residents at the University of Manitoba are being asked to go to First Nations communities to support their health-care workforces amid an expected surge of the Omicron variant.

Melanie MacKinnon, executive director of Ongomiizwin—Health Services at the university, said in the coming weeks, First Nation communities will need help as they deal with the highly contagious Omicron variant.

She said there are 25 nursing stations serving First Nations communities, many of which are in remote locations.

MacKinnon is calling on 60 senior students or residents in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences to be deployed to these communities, though hundreds of students may be needed in the coming months.

"We know how to do it, and our nursing station and health centres have hosted learners for many, many decades," she told CTV News. "The difference this time around is looking for advanced students or near graduation so that it's not about their learning experience, it's about extending the support to the local health workforce."

MacKinnon said these students will be part of the rapid response teams to help with vaccinations, testing and tracing supports, as well as medical services and clinical assessments for the advanced clinical learners.

"We have over 30 providers going into several First Nation communities next week to support testing, tracing, as well as vaccines support," she said. "So taking some of that pressure off of the local nurses to so that they can continue to do primary care."

MacKinnon said there has been more interest from other students to help out. She said many are still in the onboarding process.

The university said these would be paid positions, with deployments Monday to Friday, with travel and accommodation covered. It said the deployment cannot interrupt students' regular classes and will need approval from their program. 

More information can be found online.