The arrival of the novel coronavirus (dubbed COVID-19 by the World Health Organization), also known as SARS-CoV-2, is the most significant health emergency to affect B.C.’s continuing care sector, if not the public as a whole. At BC Care Providers Association and EngAge BC, the health and safety of residents in retirement living and seniors care is our first priority.
In order to best serve our member organizations and the continuing care sector at large, it is vital that an association such as ours are nimble enough to respond to a crisis. Beginning today, BC Care Providers Association has launched a COVID-19 Rapid Response Team (“CRRT”) to focus exclusively on supporting our sector through enhanced communications for members, our sector, and the general public.
For BCCPA, this is not business as usual. Some items outside the focus of the CRRT’s mandate may receive slower than normal responses.
The CRRT will liaise with groups and organizations across Canada in order to identify and advocate for best practices which will help to suppress the impact of COVID-19. Our Vice President Public Affairs Mike Klassen has been assigned by our CEO to direct staff in their respective roles to gather critical information and resources, as well as organize meetings with government and key stakeholders, to improve knowledge transfer during these challenging times.
This “total organizational response” will draw the talented efforts of our policy, public affairs, programs and https://bccare.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/medcare-img22.jpgistrative teams. Other non-COVID-19 related committee and projects are now on hold until further notice.
The efforts of the CRRT includes:
- Operating a daily working group with other industry associations and the Ministry of Health;
- Assisting the Canadian Association of Long-Term Care (CALTC) to better exchange knowledge across provincial boundaries;
- Creating a new COVID-19 Response page to centralize frequently asked questions and invite community feedback;
- Responding to media inquiries;
- Running a human resources task group to address immediate labour-related impacts of the coronavirus;
- Broadening the scope of internal member and stakeholder communications;
- Conducting daily media monitoring on local, national and international COVID-19 news;
- Expanding our social media communications content.
If you need anything from us, please do not hesitate to contact us by referring to our staff page. We recommend that you re-visit our COVID-19 information page on a regular basis for our latest updates.
