Applications to work in CHSLDS skyrocket after Legault’s appeal
One day up and running, and already 42,000 applications.
The Legault government’s call for 10,000 Quebecers to sign up for paid training to become orderlies and assistants in CHSLDS took off like a rocket Tuesday.
With Quebec’s 17 per cent unemployment rate, sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands pounced on a new government website simply tagged “Becoming a CHSLD orderly.”
In fact, the website crashed almost immediately, before being rebooted so it could start receiving applications again. By about 7 p.m., thousands had visited the site and 42,000 filled out the application form.
“I need 10,000 people of goodwill to take on this noble task,” Premier François Legault said at his pandemic news conference Tuesday, kicking off the stampede.
“I’m asking all Quebecers from the bottom of my heart: If you’re ready to mobilize your strength, your energy, your humanity, if you want to make a real difference in the lives of our elderly, please join us.”
It’s unclear how many applicants will actually get into the courses and eventually be hired, but a desperate government is taking the first step to prepare for a potential second wave of COVID -19 and the departure of hundreds of soldiers currently doing some of the heavy lifting in CHSLDS.
The three-month training course pays $760 a week. People who pass and get hired will be paid $49,000 a year plus benefits.
The courses lead to what is called an attestation d’études professionnelles (AEP), which means students will get all the basics in care, including training in preventing infections, proper hygiene and dealing with the particular needs of senior citizens.
Normally it takes 870 hours of training to get the certificate, but given the emergency the course is being condensed into 375 hours, which includes classroom time and time in the field.
On hand for Tuesday’s announcement, Education Minister Jean-françois Roberge said regional health authorities will co-ordinate the programs with regional professional training schools — francophone and anglophone, depending on the clients.
“So sign up,” Roberge said. “We don’t want 5,000, we don’t want 8,000 — we will have places for 10,000 students.”
Legault said he will be proud if he turns out to be the premier who solves the chronic labour problems in the network that his predecessors failed to correct.
To that end, the premier said he’s ready to take the heat from unions that might complain Quebec is creating two categories of workers because in the long run orderlies will be paid more than other health-care workers.
“I am assuming my part of the responsibility (for the situation),” Legault said. “Today it’s me who is premier, it’s me who is looking for a solution once and for all.
“I am ready to accept the criticism from people who say we are paying our people in CHSLDS too well to take care of our most vulnerable seniors,” he added. “If, by the end of my mandate, I had just settled the CHSLD situation, I would be happy.”
The program is not designed specifically for the hundreds of asylum seekers already on Quebec soil. Legault said the program is for citizens here now.
Roberge said the course is not designed to include French-language training, but the government is willing to look into that if it means more anglophones can get jobs and help the network.
Legault made his appeal after health officials revealed Quebec has experienced 52 more deaths, for a total of 4,713. Another 239 cases were added Tuesday, for a total of 51,593. The total number of hospitalizations is 1,175, a drop of 10 from the day before.
Roberge downplayed news about an outbreak of 12 COVID-19 cases in two Trois-rivières schools in the Chemin-du-roy school board.
He said some cases were bound to emerge, given that almost half of the province’s elementary schools are now open. He added that Quebec health officials rapidly stepped in, limiting the cases to a small group. That means there is no need to shut down the entire school, which has now been disinfected.
“I think that it proves that we did follow the rules and we are able to contain these cases in one class, one group,” Roberge said.