February 11, 2022
Dear St.Amant Families,
This week, we have seven active cases of COVID-19 in people we support and five in staff. For people we support, we have one in Autism Programs and six in Health & Transition Services (an outbreak has been declared on Adult Health Services). For staff, we have one in Autism Programs, one in Clinical Services, two in Community Services, and one in Health & Transition Services. None of these individuals are in hospital and many are asymptomatic.
Early in the pandemic, a wise person said – loosening everything up is going to be harder than putting in the restrictions.
Today the Government of Manitoba announced a plan to reduce Public Health restrictions and start leading us back to pre-pandemic state. This brings with it many different emotions. Some people are celebrating and planning parties. Some people are cautiously looking forward to some changes and getting back to things they enjoyed. And others are deeply concerned and even angry.
This time of change calls for compassion and patience and respect. No one person will feel the same about today’s announcement or the recommendations to come and even the restrictions that will remain. It’s normal not to be on the same page as our neighbour because we are all bringing varied circumstance and experiences. Some are immune-compromised, some barely escaped a Covid-19 infection, some have lost loved ones and others didn’t suffer from or fear getting sick, but have struggles emotionally with a lack of connection for years.
For St.Amant, we will be looking closely at the announcement and waiting for additional information and direction from Public Health as it relates to our services. We will also be discussing internally and weighing risks and benefits of proposed changes. As an organization, we can’t have less restrictions in place than Public Health recommends, but we can have more – as we have done with vaccination.
All I can say, is this will be a challenging time. I hope we can all choose compassion and respect for one another and support each other through this change.
Take care and be well,
John Leggat
President & CEO