Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to 2021! While a new year always brings with it new opportunities, this new year is particularly momentous. For over 10 months, residents have worked tirelessly to support the COVID-19 response, and have made innumerable sacrifices while doing so. As we enter 2021, the distribution of a vaccine provides new optimism for the months ahead.
PARIM continues to work diligently on your behalf. While much work remains, we continue to represent your interests with all key stakeholders. Below are a few important updates on our advocacy work, and what to expect in the months ahead.
COVID-19
- PARIM has closely monitored the resident redeployment situation since the start of the second wave, intervening where necessary to ensure resident safety and fair redeployment practices.
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For months, we have strongly advocated for broad PPE access (particularly N95s), for ALL residents who are working in at-risk settings. I am pleased to announce that last week, PARIM received word from Shared Health that the PPE guidelines would be updated to allow healthcare workers to exercise their professional judgement in determining if an N95 mask is required in at-risk settings. For more information, please review the following memo: https://sharedhealthmb.ca/files/covid-19-ppe-requirements-memo.pdf
- The President of Doctors Manitoba (Dr. Cory Baillie) and I have co-authored a letter to Shared Health advocating for an inpatient outbreak alert system, so that all resident and practicing physicians will be notified immediately if an outbreak is declared. We have not received a response to this letter, and will continue to work on this matter.
- PARIM met with Shared Health, along with union leads from other healthcare professions, to discuss COVID-19 vaccine distribution for healthcare providers. From day one, we have worked to ensure that resident physicians working in at-risk areas would be included in the initial vaccine distribution.
Contract Renewal
- Thank you to all those who have expressed interest in partaking in the PARIM Contract Subcommittee. The subcommittee will be meeting at the end of January to begin work on our contract renewal process. The current Collective Agreement between PARIM and Shared Health expires June 30, 2021.
- In mid-February, PARIM will be distributing a survey to ALL residents, in order to collect information needed for contract renegotiation. The data from this survey is essential, and we need EVERY resident to complete it. We are working to arrange for protected time to complete the survey, and we are planning a number of prize draws as well! More information will be coming soon, so please stay tuned!
Lastly, I want to remind everyone of PARIM’s upcoming advisory council meeting on January 19th at 530pm. This virtual meeting is open to all residents, and is a chance to learn more about current PARIM activities as well as ask questions. If you are interested in attending, please contact your board member or the PARIM office (parim.office@gmail.com) for the meeting link.
While we endeavour to anticipate your needs, your feedback and input is essential. As always, I encourage you to reach out to us at any time if you have questions, concerns or ideas. We are here to support you.
Stay safe and be well,
