{"id":17958,"date":"2020-10-30T14:29:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=17958"},"modified":"2020-10-30T14:29:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:29:26","slug":"home-care-workers-on-vancouver-island-claim-employer-is-putting-them-at-risk-for-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/home-care-workers-on-vancouver-island-claim-employer-is-putting-them-at-risk-for-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Care Workers on Vancouver Island claim employer is putting them at risk for COVID-19."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Home care workers on Vancouver Island say their employer, the local health authority, is putting them at risk for COVID-19.\u00a0 The workers say Island Health has refused repeated requests to require clients' household members or visiting friends and relatives to wear masks when the home care worker is present.\u00a0 Jennifer Aubichon is a home care worker in Nanaimo.\u00a0 She says home care workers have filled out numerous Hazard Reports, detailing instances when social distancing was not maintained in the private homes where they work and asking that masks be made mandatory for everyone present.\u00a0 She says Island Health has told them it will never ask family members to wear masks.\u00a0 Aubichon believes that violates COVID safety plans.<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-17958-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/clip-AUBICHON-home-care-masks.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/clip-AUBICHON-home-care-masks.mp3\">https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/clip-AUBICHON-home-care-masks.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Aubichon says masks are required at all Island Health offices and there are WorkSafe labour policies that ban dogs, guns, smoking and alcohol consumption in clients homes when home care workers are present.\u00a0 In a statement, Island Health does not directly answer why it does not require mandatory masks for those present in clients' homes.\u00a0 However, it does say \"home care staff screen clients and those in the home for COVID-19 symptoms upon arrival.\u00a0 All home care staff are provided with tools and clinical supervision to determine what steps should be taken to protect both themselves and the client.\"\u00a0 Aubichon says she has refused to work when she has felt at risk by others but she says it does not serve the client when the only alternative is to refuse to work.\u00a0 She says that puts unnecessary pressure on caregivers to abandon their clients.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home care workers on Vancouver Island say their employer, the local health authority, is putting them at risk for COVID-19.\u00a0 The workers say Island Health has refused repeated requests to require clients&#8217; household members or visiting friends and relatives to wear masks when the home care worker is present.\u00a0 Jennifer Aubichon is a home care&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":17975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,218,223],"tags":[],"radio":[240],"origine":[280,265,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17958"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=17958"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=17958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}