Local health care workers look for the province to designate them essential

Health Care professionals who say they meet the criteria of being essential workers during COVID-19 want to be designated as such by the province.

Mary Rochefort is with the Medical Laboratory Professionals Association of Ontario.

“These people have direct patient contact during COVID-19 all the time. We’re drawing their blood work. The province also asks whether there’s lots of people. And most of us are in institutions where there’s a large number of people,” she says.

Rochefort was joined by several of her colleagues today as they held a demonstration outside Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli’s campaign office .

She says other provinces have clearly defined who the essential workers in health care are but the province hasn’t.

Rochefort says they’re taking swabs throughout the community, bringing that information back to the lab and processing the information and that’s all part of the testing.

She says the public may not see them but they are doing the work required during this health emergency.

(photo by Chris Dawson BayToday)