An almost two-year-long global pandemic has left the world reeling.
Those who work in the health-care sector, particularly, are tired and weary. But the work never stops and the need has not diminished.
In fact, the current Omicron wave threatens to overwhelm the system as doctors, nurses and support staff strive to keep up in trying times.
At Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH), that has meant finding unique ways to address a critical staff shortage.
Debbie Singh, the chief human resources officer at OSMH, said traditional recruiting and stepped-up efforts have not been enough to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for staff.
As a result, the hospital decided to reach out to some of the community’s largest employers - the City of Orillia, Casino Rama and Georgian College - to help bridge the gap.
It’s been an “awesome” success and an “impressive” community-wide effort, said Singh - one that likely couldn’t happen elsewhere.
“It’s very unique,” said Singh. “It’s a credit to understanding that it doesn’t matter where you work it matters that you work. It’s fantastic and speaks to the community spirit coming together in a collaborative way you just don’t see in other dynamics.”
By the time January ends, OSMH will have hired 60 new temporary, full-time employees to fill mostly support roles within the hospital - critical positions that will allow the hospital to keep up with soaring demands.
Many of those staff were “good, hard-working” employees laid off recently due to the provincial lockdown restrictions, Singh explained.
“You live where you work and you work where you live and so we reached out to the community” for assistance, said Singh.
When the City of Orillia, Casino Rama and Georgian College “ended up temporarily laying off staff, that provided an opportunity for us to hire them temporarily,” Singh explained, calling it a “bridge of skilled resources” for the hospital.
“It’s amazing. It almost doesn’t matter where they work - we’re all working for the same purpose in the same community so it’s been great,” said Singh of the community-wide effort.
She said the city, college and casino were “fantastic” to work with and were more than willing to help the hospital in its time of need.
Gayle Jackson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said it only makes sense to work together "to navigate the challenges we face as a community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic."
The "current wave with Omicron has resulted in staffing challenges, especially within health care,” Jackson explained.
“With recreation facilities currently closed due to provincial restrictions, the City was in a position to connect the hospital with several individuals who would be available to assist. During this emergency, it’s imperative that we all work together to support one another to continue to provide critical services to our community,” said Jackson.
While the effort has been critical for the hospital, it has also given many laid-off employees a new lease on life.
Jamie Martinez, who has worked at Casino Rama for 14 years, says she is “very thankful” for the opportunity to work at the hospital at such a critical time.
Martinez has been hired as a patient service associate and will be helping with vaccination testing and screening at hospital entrances and on various hospital floors.
“It will be interesting,” said Martinez, who was a banquet lead server at the casino. “I know there’s a pandemic going on, however I feel confident I will be safe because I know that I’ll be given enough PPE to ensure my safety.”
Martinez, who came from the Philippines to work at the casino, relishes the opportunity to help her community.
“As an immigrant myself, I’ve had a lot of opportunities given to me by the community. I love giving back to the community and being able to do something meaningful.”
Martinez and dozens of others, hired during a weekend blitz, are having “expedited” orientation and training today. Many will start working in their new roles at OSMH tomorrow.
And while the new staff is a boon to OSMH, the need is expected to continue.
“In general, we’ve seen the shortage happen over time,” Singh explained, noting the “height of another wave” has created an urgent need.
“We’ve also seen a lot of fragility, I would say, within our sector with nurses and burnout and so forth,” she said, noting some are on leave or have chosen to leave the sector.
“It’s a combination of a lot of different variables that we haven’t seen before … we couldn’t have planned for it,” said Singh.
She said the pandemic and staff shortages have dramatically impacted OSMH.
“We actually use internal redeployment efforts to move our clinical staff around … that’s based on every day we take a look at where we are in terms of surgeries and so on and we redeploy those clinical staff to where we have the greatest need during that day,” said Singh.
That won’t change anytime soon.
“There is still a need” for more staff, she said. “It’s not about the number, but the continuity of making sure we have a pool of people that are available,” said Singh. “Every single day the needs change here. It can be a sick call, more patients than we expected and that means extra effort from us … so the needs are ongoing for sure.”
The hospital has a list of current job opportunities on its website.
BY THE NUMBERS:
So far in January, OSMH has hired four laid-off Casino Rama team members who will take on a variety of support roles, starting Thursday.
The hospital has also hired four laid-off City of Orillia employees for patient support assistance roles.
OSMH has hired an RPN, a RN and a Nurse Practitioner for vaccine preparation from long-term care, acute care and clinic settings.
And, the hospital has hired a security screener from Georgian College.
The hospital is hosting another hiring blitz Saturday and already have interviews set up with two laid-off employees from the casino and one from the city.
