Au Château Drops Vaccine Policy

Amid staffing crisis, local LTC home ends controversial vaccination requirements.

"I am delighted that the administration and the board has finally made the right decision. Revoking this policy is long overdue but I am optimistic that it will help address the critical staff shortages.” - Au Château Vice-Chair Catherine Neddow

Yesterday, Au Château’s board of management voted to rescind their controversial vaccine policy that was preventing many job vacancies from being filled.

The LTC home has been one of the last employers to still mandate that existing and new employees comply with COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Last year, the home faced multiple demonstrations before agreeing to stop requiring visitors to have mRNA shots to enter. But the administration, supported by the board, continued to force employees to get the shots.

One of several job openings at Au Chateau requiring COVID-19 vaccination.

Just five months ago, this board voted 4-2 to adopt a new COVID vaccination policy that required new hires to have the XBB.1.5 booster (in line with the public health recommendation).

The latest decision comes after staff shortages have been the main topic of discussion over the past several meetings. In January, the board found out that critical incidents at the LTC home had spiked 82% in 2023 (from 29 to 53 incidents). Last year, the home had 46 medication mishaps in just a 3-month period. The third-party inspector that delivered the results, concluded that one of the main causes was “staff shortages”.

Administrator, Jacques Dupuis told the board yesterday that he believed at least 12 employees were terminated or let go because of the COVID policy first implemented in 2021. He later said that at least seven have been contacted in recent days about coming back.

Au Château’s COVID policy was first implemented in 2021 when many LTC homes did the same. While concluding that the shots did not stop transmission, in March of 2022, the Ministry of Long-Term Care recommended that homes drop COVID vaccination policies but gave them the power to retain them. In the following months many abandoned these policies, but some like Au Chateau held on while citing troubling case data.

Yesterday’s announcement will certainly spark questions about timing. According to Public Health Ontario, the presence of COVID in the community today is almost identical to what it was in 2023.

Locally, the North Bay-Parry Sound Health Unit has reported 4 COVID outbreaks in just the last month. To put this into perspective, the region reported only 4 outbreaks in the first half of 2021 and averaged less than 1.5 outbreaks per month for that entire year (the year the workplace mandate came into place). COVID outbreaks are certainly not on the decline. This past winter saw more COVID outbreaks locally than any prior year.

Welcome News

This was welcome news for Vice-Chair Catherine Neddow. Along with Fern Pellerin and previous board member Anne Tessier, she attempted to rescind this policy over a year ago.

Neddow said she was delighted that the administration and the board has finally made the right decision. Neddow believes revoking this policy is long overdue but is optimistic that it will help address the critical staff shortages. 

Au Château currently has several job openings, many of which have been advertised for months without success. Many have attributed the lack of interest on the fact that new hires need the latest XBB.1.5 booster which the majority of the country has opted not to take. According to Health Canada only 11.1% of Ontarians have chosen to take the XBB.1.5 booster (less than 5% of those under 40). This has created an obvious impediment to filling important roles.

The Administration of Au Chateau has had to admit to relying extensively on temporary staffing agencies in order to fill shortages over the last year while still struggling to meet patient care requirements.

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