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I’m sharing today the letter that I sent to @PremierScottMoe & @GordWyant
To the @SKGov on your inadequate return to schools plan:
I am married to a teacher & I have 2 school aged children, so this situation affects me to a high degree.
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To the @SKGov on your inadequate return to schools plan:
I am married to a teacher & I have 2 school aged children, so this situation affects me to a high degree.
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But I’ve been in the COVID-19 communication circle longer than just this week of news.
I work in Public Health, also known as “grand central station” during this COVID-19 pandemic.
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I work in Public Health, also known as “grand central station” during this COVID-19 pandemic.
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Obviously, I’m not going to elaborate on anything confidential, but we work very hard.
We work 7 day’s a week now, much more than the pre-COVID-19, 8 hours a day, that used to be our steady schedule.
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We work 7 day’s a week now, much more than the pre-COVID-19, 8 hours a day, that used to be our steady schedule.
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We are daily making sure the public health orders are clear & followed.
We make sure that everyone is as safe as they can be during this time.
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We make sure that everyone is as safe as they can be during this time.
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Those positive cases that you release/report on daily, you get that carefully submitted information from us.
We are doing the leg work behind the scenes making sure that you are getting all that data.
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We are doing the leg work behind the scenes making sure that you are getting all that data.
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We are calling positive cases & doing extensive contract tracing (aka disease detective work), booking testing, calling negative cases, educating & being a empathetic ear to the public.
Every. Single. Day.
We do this because it’s our job, and we take great pride in it.
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Every. Single. Day.
We do this because it’s our job, and we take great pride in it.
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We also do this b/c we know it makes a difference, and we are using our expertise to do that good work.
I am grateful to do this work, and I recognize that it is also a privilege to do so.
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I am grateful to do this work, and I recognize that it is also a privilege to do so.
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Do you know that in these many hours of talking to the public, in doing this vital work, some of my coworkers have lost their voices?
Did you know that some people work weeks without a day off?
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Did you know that some people work weeks without a day off?
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Did you know that in order to stay well & to keep our families well, so that we can continue to do our essential jobs in healthcare, we have followed the public health guidelines to the letter?
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But did you also know that following these orders & guidelines have often come at a great personal cost to our own relationships with our own families & our own friends?
Our lives have changed immensely & that has come with many unforeseen consequences.
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Our lives have changed immensely & that has come with many unforeseen consequences.
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We have stepped up & we have done everything you have asked us to do, not just because it’s our job, but also because we take our role as responsible citizens seriously too.
We get it.
We see what COVID-19 does each day, because we have learned from it in real time.
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We get it.
We see what COVID-19 does each day, because we have learned from it in real time.
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We are reminded Every Day that we are in a pandemic & that there is nothing “normal” about it.
We recognize all of this, & we have no choice but to continue on because the health of our whole society depends on us, doing the essential work we do.
We must not quit. We won’t.
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We recognize all of this, & we have no choice but to continue on because the health of our whole society depends on us, doing the essential work we do.
We must not quit. We won’t.
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I am being candid here in the hope that this gives a little bit of insight into the level of strain we all have endured since the pandemic was declared in March.
I am being candid so that you can be reminded what is at stake here.
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I am being candid so that you can be reminded what is at stake here.
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We have been careful & have remained well because of those precautions we have taken since March.
Now by Sept 1st, the plan to change those measures puts not only my little family, but the health of my own workplace in jeopardy.
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Now by Sept 1st, the plan to change those measures puts not only my little family, but the health of my own workplace in jeopardy.
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If my husband or children get sick & bring COVID-19 home, & I then bring it into my workplace, how is the essential work of public health going to get done?
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I am only one of many heath care workers in this province who are probably having the same worries right now. If you could be a fly on the wall to the serious conversations happening in homes across the province right now...
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...Conversations between families who are considering preemptively moving that essential health care worker out of the family home.
Moving out so they can be out of the “risk of illness” situation that schools starting “like normal”, would put us in....
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Moving out so they can be out of the “risk of illness” situation that schools starting “like normal”, would put us in....
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That’s how important we consider our work, during this pandemic. We are considering making even more
sacrifices.
Please don’t make this a reality.
These life altering conversations should not & would not be necessary if your back to school, “safe schools” plan was better.
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sacrifices. Please don’t make this a reality.
These life altering conversations should not & would not be necessary if your back to school, “safe schools” plan was better.
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These conversation have happened before, when we worried about bringing COVID-19 home from our health care workplaces. But we haven’t.
And why is that?
Because we are provided with all the PPE & have followed all the public health measures currently in place.
They work.
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And why is that?
Because we are provided with all the PPE & have followed all the public health measures currently in place.
They work.
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So why do schools not get the same level of protections and guidance?
You need to apply the same opening principles to schools as you have with everything else.
Do you realize that your plans for school contradict all that we have been doing since March?
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You need to apply the same opening principles to schools as you have with everything else.
Do you realize that your plans for school contradict all that we have been doing since March?
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We know about how COVID is spread the easiest in group settings.
Considering the 3 C’s: Closed Spaces, Crowded Places, Close-Contact settings.
Schools are all of those things.
That makes them high risk.
So fix them.
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Considering the 3 C’s: Closed Spaces, Crowded Places, Close-Contact settings.
Schools are all of those things.
That makes them high risk.
So fix them.
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That’s one thing that this pandemic has highlighted, the inadequacies in schools, so why not take this opportunity to finally address them, to finally fix them?
My 12 year old talked about better options this week.
How come she has concrete ideas and you don’t?
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My 12 year old talked about better options this week.
How come she has concrete ideas and you don’t?
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Yes, it’s going to take a lot of work, and you’ve had time. But in my opinion that time was squandered when you revealed your plans for schools this week.
Using the word “safe” doesn’t just make it so. You’ve got to put concrete plans and actions behind those words.
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Using the word “safe” doesn’t just make it so. You’ve got to put concrete plans and actions behind those words.
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Did you realize that your plan for “Safe Schools” gives the impression to the public that all bets are off & everything is ok?
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Your plan gives the impression that you just don’t care as much for teachers, students & their families, as much as you do everyone else (like those of golf courses, restaurants, etc.)
These workplaces mentioned in the brackets had very specific guidelines...
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These workplaces mentioned in the brackets had very specific guidelines...
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...Guidelines on what to do when reopening & how to do it to stay within the public health guidelines that have kept many of us safe and well all this time.
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I honestly don’t believe “not caring for all of us” can be true.
But do you see how I get to that conclusion, that you care less or are willing to risk more with the lives of teachers, students, & their families?
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But do you see how I get to that conclusion, that you care less or are willing to risk more with the lives of teachers, students, & their families?
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So now what?
Are you going to respond & do better?
Or are you going to just push forward and now willingly/knowingly put us all at risk?
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Are you going to respond & do better?
Or are you going to just push forward and now willingly/knowingly put us all at risk?
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Do you now see that as a wife of a teacher, the mother of 2 school aged children, & as an essential public health care professional, why I have a lot riding in the success of schools starting on Sept 1st?
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Please consider all of this and please do better.
Thank you,
Carolyn Strom
- a concerned wife, parent, and essential health care worker.
30/end.
Thank you,
Carolyn Strom
- a concerned wife, parent, and essential health care worker.
30/end.