A spokesperson for HavenGroup says he is very pleased that their operations can carry on as normal, even though tough mandates took effect this week for health care workers in our province.

In August, it was announced that designated provincial public service workers who have ongoing contact with vulnerable populations, would need to be fully immunized or submit to testing up to three times per week. This list included staff at personal care homes. In order to comply, individuals needed to receive their first dose by September 7th and their second dose no later than October 17.

HavenGroup oversees numerous facilities in Steinbach, including Rest Haven personal care home. Chief Executive Officer David Driedger says they have about 140 staff. Approximately 70 per cent of their staff are fully vaccinated. This number is not much different from the percentage of all eligible residents in Southern Health that are immunized, which is 67.5 per cent.

Driedger says that means about 35 of their staff members have opted for regular testing. Full-time employees must be tested on site three times per week. Driedger notes they must come in advance of their shift and complete their testing before going to their unit or office area to work.

According to figures released this week by Shared Health, there are 158 health care workers in our province that are currently on unpaid leave for choosing not to be vaccinated and deciding against being forced to weekly testing. Of those, 83 work in Southern Health. Driedger says none of those work at Haven Group.

"We have no staff currently that are on unpaid leave of absence," he says. "We have therefore been able to keep operations across all HavenGroup entities going as we ought to. And so the priority of giving resident care of providing services to our tenants in our housing sector have all been maintained."

Driedger says during the first week of October, all of their residents who consented, received their flu vaccine. He adds those residents wanting the COVID-19 booster will be able to receive it towards the end of next week.

Meanwhile, according to Shared Health, as of October 19, 1,866 individuals from across the province identified a need for rapid testing while 30,705 had been validated as being fully vaccinated. Of those who have not yet completed a disclosure, many are known to be within the COVID-19 casual pool and efforts to reach those staff and have them complete the form are underway.

According to Southern Health, due to privacy considerations, they are unable to provide staffing details relating to redeployments at specific sites. Similarly, they are unable to disclose how many staff at a specific site have been placed on unpaid leave relating to compliance with public health orders.