Home care providers wait for shots
Workers who travel to treat clients not included in first vaccine round
Home health care providers are looking for clarity from the B.C. government about when their workers, who care for those who are most vulnerable to illness, will be able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The first groups to be vaccinated in B.C., starting last month, included long-term care and assisted-living residents, staff and essential visitors, and those awaiting placement in long-term care, health care workers caring for COVID-19 patients, and remote and isolated First Nations communities.
Not included, however, are those who travel between homes and care facilities providing everything from wound dressing and medication management to personal care and light housekeeping. These workers range from caregivers and companions to nurses.
“I know there's a limited vaccine volume, but there's lots of talk about using up the first dose as widely as possible rather than hanging on to supplies to make sure you have enough for the second dose,” said Terry Lake, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association.
“So, it seems to us that this is a group of people that really should be considered to be included in the first round, so that we have as many vulnerable people protected as possible.”
In February and March, the province's vaccination program is expected to be expanded to include “long-term home support recipients and staff” and more seniors in the community, among others, but it's unclear exactly who will be covered.
Those who work in the public sector for health authorities will likely be vaccinated, but plans don't appear to include the nearly 10,000 people working for more than 500 privately owned companies.
Some of those people provide services in long-term care and assisted-living facilities as well as private homes, and work with some of the same clients as public sector care workers.
Danny Birch, co-founder and managing partner of Hero Home Care, said he and others in the private sector are in regular contact with the Ministry of Health, but are in a holding pattern. His company employees 150 workers.
“I don't think it's a case of, `We're choosing this group over this group,' it's just they are doing the best they can, and when our time comes, we'll be ready for it,” Birch said. “At the moment, we kind of fall in that sort of grey area where there really is no answer.”
Birch said home-care workers are taking a long list of precautions to protect their clients and have cut back visits in some cases, but vaccination will provide an extra layer of protection and allow them to get “back to normal” sooner so they can provide more care.
Veronica Tissera, vice-president of customer experience with Nurse Next Door, is excited that effective vaccines were developed so quickly and are being rolled out already in B.C., and is optimistic that her home-care workers will be included in the next phase of vaccinations.
“We know the vaccine would be able to really provide that peace of mind, not only for the seniors but for the caregivers as well that are out there,” Tissera said.
“They're the front line taking care of the people that need it the most.”
The B.C. Care Providers Association and SafeCare B.C. have cosigned a letter to Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry that argues for the inclusion of home-care workers in vaccinations as early as possible, and seeks confirmation that private sector home-care workers will be inoculated at the same time as the public sector.
“The risk-based approach that B.C. is following absolutely makes sense,” said Jennifer Lyle, CEO of SafeCare B.C., which is the workplace health and safety association for the continuing care sector. “Our questions now are just around where those working in the privately versus publicly funded sector fit into that, because ultimately it shouldn't matter — the risk profile is the same, the nature of the work is the same.”