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AHS flu policy controversy

Controversy erupted last week after several Barrhead Continuing Care Centre employees were sent home for refusing to take flu shots.

Controversy erupted last week after several Barrhead Continuing Care Centre employees were sent home for refusing to take flu shots.

Some workers were relocated temporarily to Barrhead hospital, others stayed at home using vacation time until allowed to return to the centre.

The employees can file grievances, although a union representative said he was unaware of any being registered.

“I didn’t take the shot because I am healthy,” one worker told The Leader. “It’s a question of freedom of choice. I am prepared to live with the consequences of my decision.”

“I have never known a policy like this,” she added. “Years ago employees were given a choice whether to have flu shots or not.”

The staff member, who did not wish to be named, was aware of only one flu sufferer at the centre, although there are reports of other cases. Recent figures show that in Alberta there were 1,100 confirmed cases by mid-January.

The issue has trained a spotlight on an Alberta Health Services policy that can require staff to get immunized if they work in a facility where there is flu.

The options for those who refuse are: they can take anti-viral medication for the duration of the outbreak and stay at work; change their employment location, if alternative places are available; and be excluded from work until the flu problem subsides.

It has raised two big questions: Should flu shots be mandatory for healthcare workers? Does the flu virus change from year to year to a point where the flu shot is no longer viable or good?

In a Barrhead Leader Facebook poll most respondents were against compulsory shots.

About six employees at the 100-bed facility, including nurses, are reported to have been sent home without pay after refusing on-site flu shots on Monday, Jan. 21.

Centre manager Carla Carlson last Thursday directed media inquiries to Alberta Health Services’ senior media relations advisor for the North Zone, Kerry Williamson.

Williamson said the AHS did not have a blanket province-wide flu shot policy. It was implemented, he said, on a case-by-case basis.

“Our priority is patients,” he said. “In a long-term care facility where patients have weakened immune systems the flu tends to hit them harder.”

Williamson said the flu season had started early this year, but it had been no worse than normal.

He added the World Health Organization predicts which strains will be prevalent before the season starts. This dictates the vaccine.

“It is really impossible to predict when we will see a spike in influenza cases,” he said.

Williamson said research shows that immunization is the best way to stop the flu bug spreading.

“I had the shot quite early on,” he said.

Williamson said the decision to implement the policy in Barrhead had been made by Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kathryn Koliaska. She could not be reached for comment last week.

The Barrhead employee said lack of communication about the policy was part of the problem.

“We had no idea about this AHS policy,” she said. “We only found out about it listening to the news.”

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees senior communications adviser Mark Wells said the union had challenged the policy about 10 years ago. However, an arbitrator ruled against the union.

Wells said if a union member wished to file a grievance, the AUPE would be supportive.

“However, we cannot guarantee success,” he said.

Wells added he was unaware of any grievance being filed by a Barrhead care centre worker.

Last week there was a restriction on visitors to the centre, which is in the Dr. W. R. Keir Building.

The centre was opened in August 1985 and provides nursing services on a 24-hour basis under supervision of a registered nurse. Some of the services include dementia care, physical/occupational/recreation therapy, adult day support, respite care and pastoral care.

Dorothy Clarke, Barrhead and District Social Housing Association (BDSHA) chief administrative officer, said there was no flu shot policy for Hillcrest since it was a different kind of facility from the continuing care centre.

“We do not deal with sick people,” she said. “We deal with healthy people.”

In British Columbia the issue of health care workers and flu shots has provoked fierce debate.

In December the B.C. government temporarily backed away from forcing thousands of provincial health workers to get a flu shot before they can work with patients.

The government launched a mandatory program to protect patients because it said a voluntary plan was not working. In some places fewer than 50 per cent of workers were getting vaccinated.

However, three unions launched grievances and government stepped back from enforcing the policy, even though it remains in effect. The BC Health Ministry said it would work towards compliance in the first year of the program.

The issue has also sparked controversy in Ontario, where the province’s public health agency has called for flu shots to be mandatory for healthcare workers, urging it to be a condition of employment in hospitals, nursing homes, home care or in any kind of community setting.

However, Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said she is not considering enforced vaccinations at this time and the Ontario Nursing Association has balked at the idea.

Between 4,000 and 8,000 people are estimated to die from flu or its complications every year in Canada.

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