St. Amant near staffing emergency with COVID-19 cases

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This article was published 01/01/2022 (1755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

St. Amant is on the brink of declaring a staffing emergency after 53 people have tested positive for COVID-19.

Staff make up 45 of the cases, while eight are clients and students, according to a New Year’s Eve email from John Leggat, the non-profit’s president and CEO. The memo is addressed to St.Amant families. The organization supports people with developmental disabilities and autism.

Manitobans who can take their family members home from St.Amant’s residential program are being contacted, according to the email. Employees are being asked to take temporary live-in roles, and the organization is calling in casual workers.

“Staff contingency plans are in use and we are on the cusp of declaring a staffing emergency to our funders/unions which will enable us to redeploy staff from other areas of the organization to residential support roles,” Leggat wrote.

He did not respond to interview requests by deadline Saturday.

High volumes of sick calls are contributing to the crisis, Leggat wrote.

The lack of staff may mean St. Amant School, which is set to reopen Jan. 10 along with other schools in the province, could extend its closure.

The institution has 32 students, half of whom live on site in supported community housing. The school shut down one classroom cohort once it knew about a positive case, which families were informed of on Dec. 19, principal Joyce Douglas told the Free Press Friday.

“When we realized it was spreading, we closed the whole school,” she said.

The outbreak wasn’t made public because St. Amant is a non-profit.

River Road Child Care, a centre St. Amant runs, will remain closed until the non-profit receives further guidance on reopening from health officials, Leggat wrote.

Service delivery of autism programs might also be affected by the outbreak, he wrote.

“This is our most challenging time yet during this pandemic and we know that everyone is tired,” he wrote. “We are focusing our energy on essential services.”

As of Friday, 38 people connected to the non-profit had confirmed COVID-19 cases. Another 15 were presumptive, or showing positive with a rapid test.

Infected staff span St. Amant’s offerings, including 20 in its community residential program, five in the school, four at River Road Child Care, four in supported independent living, six in health and transition services, one in autism programs, three in environmental services and two in foster services.

Three school students, four people in residential programming and one client supported by health and transition services have also tested positive.

“The next week, and staffing numbers will determine how we move forward,” Leggat wrote.

The first case that St. Amant issued a notice about came from the health and transition services section of St. Amant School. That announcement was Dec. 19.

Two days later, another three school staff members and two school community members tested positive, the organization noted.

On Christmas Eve, St. Amant issued a statement confirming four more positive COVID-19 cases. School would tentatively resume on Jan. 10, and the autism program’s early learning classes would remain closed until then, the note said.

St. Amant’s programs span more than 100 community sites and homes, according to its website.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com