It was April of this year when Mary Fraser-Hamilton started to feel things were falling apart. The high school drama teacher at Peel District School Board was teaching online while juggling virtual school for her own young children at home. After a few months of pandemic teaching and parenting, she noticed she couldn’t think clearly…
Category: Community News
Debate grows over mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for children
With the first COVID-19 vaccine for children under 12 expected to be authorized in Canada soon, there is growing debate among health officials and experts over whether kids should be subject to mandatory vaccination policies, and whether they should be able to claim non-medical exemptions. There is clear consensus in the medical community that any COVID-19…
Study on pandemic’s impact on families shows depression, anxiety this year worse than in the first wave
“My stress level went from zero to one hundred,” recalled the Brampton mother. “I never had any down time.” As the third wave of COVID-19 infections in Ontario shuttered schools last spring, Talika Walsh figured she could manage working from home while her teenagers did remote learning. Any break in her day was spent desperately trying to…
Create safer in-store experiences in a post-vaccinated world
Our nostalgia for life before COVID-19 may already be painting the pre-pandemic world as a simpler, safer place, but it’s not a place we can ever return to. “And that’s not a bad thing,” says Pam Patry, WSPS’ Acting Pandemic Program Lead, Field Operations. “Everything we’ve learned through the pandemic can help us create safer…
People over 80 or who received only AstraZeneca should be offered third COVID doses, advisory panel says
Those over 80, adults living in long-term-care homes, and people who only got AstraZeneca shots could be offered a third COVID-19 vaccine dose, Canada’s national advisory body said Friday. The first national recommendations for so-called booster doses set out guidelines for a practice already being undertaken by some provinces, whose health officials have said those at highest…
6 tips for preventing MSDs in the post-pandemic office
October is Global Ergonomics Month and as workplaces prepare to assume a more permanent office model (full-time office, full-time home office, or a hybrid of the two), now is the ideal moment to consider possible ergonomic implications. Are existing office set-ups as ergonomically safe as they could be? Are any of us developing aches and…
How to defuse new COVID fears – and avoid work refusals
As the more contagious delta variant continues infecting Canadians, workers anticipate returning to workplaces that have been shut for much of the pandemic, and the media continues reporting instances of vaccine passport violence, workplaces may encounter instances of workers invoking their right to refuse work if they believe they are in imminent danger. How likely…
Flu season is coming: what can you do now?
Flu season has already begun, and Public Health anticipates more illness and hospitalizations due to the loosening of COVID measures that kept last year’s flu numbers extremely low. For employers, it’s critical to get a handle on this now, says Janet Carr, WSPS Workplace Mental Health Consultant, before the spread of flu takes a toll…
Yee Hong’s Caregiver Education & Support Services: November’s Programs
Yee Hong has released their newest webinar calendar for November 2021. Caregiving can be immensely rewarding but can be emotionally and physically demanding too. Yee Hong’s Caregiver Education and Support Services helps caregivers fortify their love and patience, with up-to-date knowledge, essential skills and wellness support, to ensure positive and successful results. Please see the image below…
SAVE THE DATE – CSALC Annual Frontline Workers’ Training
As many of you know, the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic holds an annual frontline workers’ training in the Fall. This year the training will continue to be conducted via Zoom and it will be split into 3 sessions with different topics. The training will be on every Tuesday afternoon between 1 p.m. and…