Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 13, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CITY?BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204-697-7292 ? CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM B1 MONDAY APRIL 13, 2020 SECTION BCONNECT WITH WINNIPEG'S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE? AFTER dozens of coronavirus deaths in care homes in other provinces were connected to health care staff working at more than one institution, union and health officials in Manitoba are hoping that doesn't happen here too. "It is a reality in Manitoba that we have health care workers who go to multiple sites," Shared Health chief of nursing Lanette Siragusa said Wednes- day. She had been asked about the pos- sibility the virus is being spread by in- fected workers employed at more than one facility, a situation that has raised alarm in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. "We're looking for solutions, to either minimize that or eliminate that," she said. "We know that's a risk, but it is also our reality and that's how we oper- ationally work," Siragusa said. Manitoba had a COVID-19 scare at Betel Home in Gimli a week ago, after there was a respiratory illness outbreak among residents and a worker who end- ed up testing negative. In Winnipeg, four patients and 10 workers in a medi- cine unit tested positive for the corona- virus at Health Sciences Centre. Four long-term care facilities in Winnipeg have also had a worker or resident test positive for COVID-19. While none of the cases in this province has been linked to a health care worker em- ployed at mul- tiple sites, it is still a concern for people who have to take shifts at more than one facility to make ends meet, said Shannon Mc- Ateer, the CUPE health care co-ordinator for Manitoba. The union, which represents close to 18,000 health care workers in the pub- lic sector and around 1,500 working at private care homes, says funding cuts over the last four years have come to a head with COVID-19. A reduction in the number of full-time positions, and the creation of more part-time positions, has resulted in workers taking shifts at more than one site. "We've got a staffing crisis be- fore the COVID-19 crisis," said Mc- Ateer. There is no provincial ratio that requires a certain number of health care aides per long-term care resident in Manitoba, and facilities are chronic- ally short of staff, she said. "Working short is a normal state of being," she said. The pandemic has amplified the problem, and shown the value of having more people employed full time at one facility instead of part- timers and casual staff working at mul- tiple sites, she said. "It's shining a light on the working- short issues we've had for a number of years," said McAteer. Now, with staff who are exposed to the virus hav- ing to self isolate, and those with chil- dren home from school needing child care, it's even more difficult to staff facilities, she said. Some private and public nursing homes have sent their employees letters asking if they work at two facilities, but no action has been taken to limit workers to one facility, she said. "Anything's doable," said McAteer. "The government has to say 'here's some money so we can staff ap- propriately." With Manitoba in the midst of a pan- demic and managing health care for a growing population of baby boomers, that likely won't be easy. "It's a chal- lenge to make sure everyone gets the services they need if we make those changes," said Siragusa. She said it's not impossible but there needs to be "a well-executed plan to make sure every- body gets the services they need." In the meantime, all front-line health care workers who deal directly with patients and care home residents are being screened for symptoms of COVID-19 and required to wear uni- versal personal protective equipment, Siragusa noted. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Multi-site health staff seen as danger Funding cuts hitting hard, union official warns CAROL SANDERS Lanette Siragusa R IDING a wave of collec-tive euphoria enveloped by pulsing music in a darkened venue is a liberating, inhibition- lowering, sense-heightening experi- ence for many. Dance floors and festival grounds across Manitoba attract people by the hundreds and thousands - absent of public-health orders - for an escape from the daily grind. And while alcohol, weed and illicit substance use can permeate such events, a couple of public- health nurses are collaborating with revellers to build a safer party culture. Bryce Koch and Joseph Keilty are the founders of Project Safe Audience, a harm-reduction and education initiative launched in 2016 to promote safer substance use in Winnipeg's rave scene. It has grown into a full-fledged com- munity outreach project led by a board of directors and more than 50 volunteers. Koch said he was struck with the idea to introduce harm-reduction measures to the city's rave scene while studying nursing at the Uni- versity of Manitoba. Having volunteered in the medi- cal tent at major electronic dance music events in British Columbia, where safer substance use trumped stigma, the former paramedic wanted to do more for his peers in Winnipeg and offer similar sup- ports: drug testing, substance-use information, free condoms and safe-sex supplies, ear plugs, sterile snorting straws and mental-health crisis counselling. "I had been going to raves and mu- sic events for a pretty long time and I was noticing a bit of a gap in health information that was targeting this audience," said Koch, 28. "A lot of my friends, a lot of my peers in the community were taking substances, but they didn't really un- derstand what they were putting into their body, didn't know how much they were putting into their body, and I would have people coming to talk to me with conflicting information." Koch enlisted the help of Keilty, a friend and fellow nursing student. They set up their first booth at a rave in Winnipeg a little more than three years ago. Using their own cash to buy supplies, the pair handed out pamphlets on how to safely use party drugs, condoms and ear plugs, and created the first connections that would establish Project Safe Audi- ence in Manitoba. "Reducing stigma, it's creating a culture of safety, it's advocating for more progressive laws," said Keilty, 27. "It's creating the culture where we can talk about it openly and hon- estly and create a safer environment. "I love the philosophy of meeting of people where they're at, having open and honest conversations, and creating the environment that could allow people to actually be safe and challenge old policies," he said. In the past year, Project Safe Audience volunteers have worked festivals and dozens of events, offer- ing drug testing, mental-health crisis intervention, information and peer support. Keilty and Koch have also started providing harm-reduction training for venue owners, festival directors and are collaborating with community partners on best prac- tices to engage people using meth, opioids and other potentially deadly substances. "Having this harm-reduction stance and working with a population that uses substances - and incorpo- rating people who use substances into an organization that works in this area - we've found that a lot of the information we gather is applicable in many other practices," Koch said. "In the last couple years, that's something we've really been focused on: taking what we've learned and applying it to community health practices, applying it to addictions treatments, applying it to other harm- reduction programs." Project Safe Audience remains volunteer-led and committed to involving peers in the festival and rave scene, Koch said, allowing the organization to nimbly respond to the needs of their community. With events cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Project Safe Audience has pivoted its community outreach to inform people who use substances on how to do so safely while slowing the spread of the virus. Koch recently hosted an online video chat - accompanied by slides reminding people to wipe down drug packaging, keep equipment clean and how to prepare if their supply becomes disrupted - to explain what harm reduction can mean during an outbreak. "We have information that we can give people to help make better health decisions during this pandem- ic," Koch said. "Within nursing it's deeply in- grained that you are to work with your client, you don't hold all the an- swers, you have privileged knowledge but that is something you want to share with your client and work with your client to find the best health outcomes." danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca Party hearty, but safely Harm-reduction project grows by leaps and bounds OUR CITY YOUR STORIES WITH DANIELLE DA SILVA JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Joseph Keilty, left, and Bryce Koch, founders of Project Safe Audience, a harm-reduction group that ensures party goers can party safely. 'I had been going to raves and music events for a pretty long time and I was noticing a bit of a gap in health information that was targeting this audience' - Bryce Koch B_01_Apr-13-20_FP_01.indd B1 2020-04-12 7:57 PM ;