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Ottawa retirement home manager suspended after allegations his wife received vaccine instead of front-line staff

Staff members said in a letter to their union that a housekeeper was in tears after being told she would not be vaccinated.

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The manager of an Ottawa retirement home has been suspended amid allegations that a housekeeper at the home was bumped from the COVID-19 vaccine queue last weekend so that the manager’s wife could be vaccinated instead.

In a statement to this newspaper, Riverstone Retirement Communities, the company that operates Stirling Park Retirement Community, confirmed it is investigating “after being made aware of concerns with regard to recent vaccination efforts at one of our communities” and said the company takes the matter seriously.

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Staff members, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs, said in a letter to their union that the housekeeper was in tears after being told she would not be vaccinated.

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The woman who allegedly received the vaccine had no association with the home and should not have even been in the building under public health rules, said the health-care union that represents the home’s workers.

“From our perspective, it’s shameful,” said Charlene Nero of The Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 3000, which represents workers at the home. “These are precarious workers. These are not Cadillac positions. These are housekeeper positions.”

The union has filed complaints with Ottawa Public Health and the Ministry of Health over the alleged incident. It has also filed a grievance with the retirement home, saying it failed to administer the vaccine appropriately and didn’t maintain a safe workplace.

Stirling Park Retirement Community, which has had COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic, was among high-risk retirement homes in Ottawa that were prioritized for vaccines. It was also among the first to receive doses of Moderna when they arrived in the city.

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Riverstone Retirement Communities said it “supports the prioritization of residents, employees and essential caregivers in order to provide the safest possible environment for our residents.”

On Feb. 7, according to the letter from staff, some employees and caregivers were told there would be five doses of Moderna vaccine left over after residents received their first doses. Three health-care workers, one essential caregiver and one housekeeper all put up their hands for the remaining vaccines.

Staff said the fifth person on the list — the housekeeper — was later bumped so the wife of a senior executive could get vaccinated. The woman isn’t an essential caregiver and doesn’t work or volunteer at the home, the union alleged, and shouldn’t have been inside the home, let alone on the list to receive a vaccine.

The letter said staff members were upset but afraid to raise the issue at work for fear of their jobs.

“We were all very upset about seeing this housekeeper crying and the vaccine go to the general manager’s wife,” said the letter. “We really feel that this is unfair and an abuse of power.”

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Nero agreed.

“(These workers) are putting themselves at risk. They are the ones who clean up. They are the ones who are in the home every day. They are doing what has to be done day after day. In addition to suffering the slight of being told they are not important enough to get the vaccine, they are being put at risk.”

The allegations, coming amid an ongoing vaccine shortage, are the second in a week involving queue jumping.

LiUNA local 3000 alleged that a nurse at a nursing home in Vaughan was required to vaccinate at least 10 people who were not staff or essential caregivers. Friends and family of management were allegedly vaccinated.

The board chair at Villa Leonardo Gambin in Vaughan confirmed in an earlier statement that the vaccine was offered to non front-line staff members “including myself” but only after all available staff and residents received the vaccine which was due to expire.

The Moderna vaccine expires six hours after a vial has been opened.

Ottawa received its first doses of Moderna vaccine last week — enough for about 4,000 doses. The doses were delivered to high-risk retirement homes. Until that shipment arrived, Ottawa had only received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored at ultra-cold temperatures and is more difficult to handle. Special teams were deployed beginning in January to move it into long-term care homes once the province got approval to move it out of hospitals.

epayne@postmedia.com

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