Unlike hospital, unvaccinated staff at Group Health Centre face testing and education, not termination

The vaccination rate for healthcare workers at the Group Health Centre (GHC) stands at about 95 per cent, said spokesperson Giordan Zin, but there are no current plans to terminate those who are not vaccinated.

”Our policy requires that any current GHC employee or physician who is not yet fully vaccinated to submit to regular rapid antigen point-of-care testing (a) minimum of twice weekly,” said Zin. “In addition to the testing requirements, current employees and physicians who are not yet fully vaccinated for any reason other than medical must also provide proof of completion of an education session approved by GHC.”

GHC has 320 employees and 88 primary and specialty care providers, for a total of 408 health care workers. Zin said at present 95 per cent of those workers are vaccinated.

Zin noted GHC also has a number of other COVID-19 safety protocols in place, including PPE use, entry screening, waiting room capacity limits, as well as enhanced cleaning and sanitization. 

Sault Area Hospital (SAH) recently terminated 13 employees as a result of its mandatory vaccination policy for staff.

Zin said GHC is an ambulatory care facility, not an acute care facility, like SAH, and that gives it greater flexibility and control to coordinate access to its services.

“At present, we feel this flexibility, coupled with stringent COVID-19 safety protocols, the use of virtual visits, and a near 100% health care provider vaccination rate continues to allow GHC to provide patients and visitors with the highest level of protection when accessing our services,” said Zin.

“That said, with the ever-evolving nature of this pandemic, GHC continues to monitor our regional environment and make decisions regarding our COVID-19 Safety Protocols by following best practice guidelines and advice from Algoma Public Health. As a result, we are continuously reviewing this policy and will revise it if needed,” he said.

New employees and physicians seeking to work for GHC are required to show proof of full vaccination or provide a ‘satisfactory medical exclusion by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Zin.

Individuals with medical exclusions are required by GHC to submit to rapid antigen testing twice a week.

That policy was put into effect Sept. 7, 2021 and is based on the Ministry of Health’s Directive #6 for hospitals and long-term care facilities.

“Like all our policies, this policy was approved by GHC’s senior leadership team and in consultation with the Group Health Association Board of Directors,” sad Zin.