December 24, 2020
Dear St.Amant Families,
I’m pleased to share that staff continue to make recoveries from COVID-19 and we presently don’t have anyone supported with an active case. In the past week, there have been two new staff cases in the Community Residential Program and one staff case in Central Services. All staff are recovering at home and we wish them a quick recovery.
Yesterday, the Province announced the inclusion of direct support workers from Community Living disABILITY Services shift staffed homes and child and family services group homes in the January 2021 group of Manitobans eligible for vaccinations. This is a huge step to keeping people with developmental disabilities and autism in Manitoba safe.
We expect it will mirror the acute care and Personal Care Home staff eligibilities, in that they will likely begin with staff who are at higher risk. This means not every person in these categories will become eligible to be immunized at the same time. We will provide more information to our staff as it is shared with us. The first vaccines have been administered to a small group of St.Amant staff who met the initial eligibility.
As a result of the Caregiver Wage Support Program, we don’t anticipate any staffing challenges during the holidays. This is a huge relief for our organization and will ensure the people supported can receive the best care over the holidays.
We continue to take extra precautions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The best way for you to protect yourself and others is to follow public health orders and stay at home as much as possible.
I truly hope that you and your family get time to unwind and relax, and have a safe and healthy new year.
John Leggat
President & CEO