Leamington hospital paves way toward bringing health care to migrant workers
A team of nurses and paramedics from Erie Shores HealthCare are visiting farms, hotels, motels and other living accommodations to meet with and check in on migrant workers across Essex Country who have tested positive for COVID-19.
This initiative launched Monday, just a few days after a 31-year-old migrant worker from Mexico who worked in a farm in Kingsville, Ont. died of COVID-19.
Dr. Ross Moncur, interim CEO of Erie Shores HealthCare, said the goal is to help people who may hesitate to seek health care services.
"I think that in many ways, this population in our community runs quite parallel to other segments of our community. And part of our job is to really reach out to them and tell them that we're there simply to help," he said, adding the service has been working so far.
Dr. Moncur said the hospital has been given a list from Public Health of 130 self-isolating migrant workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 and their team has met with about 100 of them — with five being brought to the hospital for additional care.
The hospital is also testing additional workers, he said.
"Our team is out there doing a risk assessment of their environment and if there are other folks in that environment that have not yet been tested that we think is reasonable to be tested, then we are doing that along with EMS to increase the number of tests that we're doing throughout the community," said Moncur.
He added "an increase in testing is a great way forward to get control coverage throughout our community."
Initiative is temporary
Dr. Moncur said he's proud of his team and their dedication as they take on this risky task.
"This is unprecedented that a hospital like us would be stepping outside of our four walls and doing this level of activity in the community," he said. "It's another example of the COVID pandemic breaking down silos in what we consider normal health care distribution."
He adds this initiative is temporary and the hospital is currently working on a more long-term solution.
"We certainly don't want to be in the business long-term of working outside of our building forever. I think that with those connections between primary care and home and community care, we will create a model here that improves access and follow up for this population," he said.
"But we know that what we're doing right now is going to work short-term."
Dr. Moncur said the hospital is still safe for people to visit, adding that lessons learned from this case could be applied for mass testing of migrant workers — something that also Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants.
Ford told reporters Tuesday that testing farm workers is "critical for the safety of the food supply chain."
He said 34 inspection orders have been issued by the Ministry of Labour to Ontario farms and the provincial government has given farmers $2 million to buy workers PPE.
Ford added outbreaks among migrant workers "shouldn't affect the rest of the community," and wouldn't impact how reopening moves forward.
