By Patrycja Arkuszewski
Long-term care facilities in the region are vaccinating more staff for the flu in order to lower death rates among its residents.
Dr. Eleni Galanis, a manager with the region’s health department says few staff-members were immunized because of a lack of research in that specific area.
“We actually didn’t know how important it is,” Galanis says. “We knew that it was important for staff to be vaccinated but we didn’t have the evidence to show us that it was so effective.”
Dr. Robert Cushman, the region’s medical health officer, recently released a memorandum based on a British study that shows the vaccination of staff for the flu actually decreases the death rate among residents by 41 per cent.
Last year 16 people in nursing homes died because of the flu and only 36 per cent of staff in long-term care facilities were vaccinated. This prompted the region to start a new program called the Big Shot Challenge to help increase the number of staff being vaccinated in long term care facilities.
Statistics on the effectiveness of the program are expected next year.
“Anecdotal reports have been that there has been a good uptake and that the program has been well received,” Galanis says.
Diane Richer, the secretary of occupational health and safety at St. Vincent’s Pavillion, says it’s very important to have staff vaccinated.
“We try to get as many staff-members vaccinated,” she says. “We’re also offering the vaccine for volunteers.”
St. Vincent’s Pavillion is participating in the region’s Big Shot Challenge program and Richer says there is an increase in participants this year because of the program.
The executive director at the Glebe Centre, Dawn O’Leary, says that although their organization decided to participate in the Big Shot Challenge program, they had other reasons for getting their staff involved.
“We had an outbreak (of the flu) last year and it cost us $13,000 in bringing in staff from outside agencies because our staff were sick,” O’Leary says.
But O’Leary says that the move to the program wasn’t only motivated by money.
“We wanted to avoid another outbreak, because of our residents,” she says. “We wanted to protect them.”
Last year only 25 per cent of the staff at the Glebe Centre were vaccinated against the flu virus.
O’Leary says the number of staff vaccinated has increased and now over 60 per cent of the staff have received the vaccine.
The centre offered incentives such as free meals, free groceries and a day off with pay for vaccinated staff.
Most staff at the Glebe Centre say they got vaccinated to protect their residents.
“I think it’s essential in a situation like ours where we’re full of elderly people who need to be protected,” says Kathy McConkey, a program manager at the Glebe Centre.
Although Galanis says there are other diseases that pose serious health problems for the elderly, flu vaccination will remain a priority.
“The flu vaccine is the only one where we know that vaccinating the staff will help decrease disease in the elderly.”