OTTAWA —
In response to a request from the Quebec government, the military will be deploying medical personnel to help out in the badly hit long-term care homes in the province.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed the Canadian Armed Forces would be heading in to help, while exploring other assistance through Red Cross and other specialized volunteers.
Quebec—which has seen the largest number of COVID-19 cases across Canada and where outbreaks in seniors’ facilities are compounding already existent staff shortages—had asked for additional help from the federal government with staff and supplies.
According to the Department of National Defence, the military will be sending approximately 125 members, including nursing officers, medical technicians, and other support personnel with health training.
“They will assist local doctors and nurses by providing civilian patient management, including the medical care of those in LTCF [long-term care facilities], assist in the co-ordination of nursing and logistical requirements as well as with the delivery of federally or provincially-sourced essential protective equipment to those working in LTCFs,” the department said in a news release.
Starting on Friday, liaison and reconnaissance staff are being dispatched to Quebec to gather information to inform the upcoming deployment.
This in in addition to the 80 Canadian rangers that have been deployed to northern Quebec communities.
This latest assistance comes following a Thursday evening call Trudeau had with the premiers, where further details and rollout of a promised federal-provincial agreement to top-up the salaries of essential workers, like those in long-term care homes, was also discussed.
Earlier this week, Trudeau announced the federal government was working to cost-share a wage boost for essential front-line staff who are making less than $2,500 a month, given they are currently facing difficult work situations.
According to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office, everyone on the call “agreed on the urgent need to ensure long-term care facilities have the resources they need to protect the health and well-being of their residents and workers.”
Nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in Canada are linked to long-term care homes, and the impact in these facilities of the novel coronavirus have been, as Trudeau has put it, “far more severe” than the government “had certainly hoped for, or more than we feared.”
While speaking on the call, provincial, territorial, and federal leaders are also said to have come to a consensus that the physical distancing, self-isolation and quarantine measures in place remain “essential.”
This cross-Canada agreement on the need for maintaining public health measures comes as regional differences in how the pandemic is spreading are becoming clearer as some provincial leaders start to ponder when their economies can get back up and running.
The situation in Prince Edward Island—where the number of new cases in the last week has been minimal— is very different than say Ontario or Quebec that both continue to see hundreds of new cases a day, for example.
“We are a huge, huge country and therefore understandably very, very diverse,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday.
“One thing we have in common though, is every single Canadian has made a huge sacrifice already in fighting the coronavirus. That sacrifice is starting to pay off… What is so essential for us all is not to squander that achievement. We have all paid too high a price already to throw it all away.”
