City of Red Deer implements COVID-19 immunization policy for staff

The new policy applies to all City of Red Deer staff and volunteers, and requires them to be fully immunized by Nov. 28. To comply with this date, the following timelines apply:

for a two dose vaccine series, employees and volunteers must receive one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by October 15, 2021, and the second dose by November 13, 2021.
for a single dose vaccine series, employees and volunteers must receive the dose by November 13, 2021.

Current measures in place at City facilities for staff and patrons will continue to apply, including masking, physical distancing, enhanced hand and surface sanitizing and staying home when sick.

“Immunizations are a contentious issue,” Lodewyk continues. “People have strong opinions, which create tension in our workplaces and in our personal lives, but despite all of the emotions around this particular topic, a City of Red Deer Covid-19 immunization policy is now necessary for our staff. This policy is about doing what we can to protect our employees, our community and our healthcare systems.

“It is about reducing the impacts on our already over-crowded hospitals where healthcare workers are working tirelessly as they continue to navigate this pandemic without judgement or hesitation. But we all must do our part too, and this policy is one step our staff at The City of Red Deer can take in the effort to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Lodewyk says it was a tough decision to make as there is obviously a lot of tension and different opinions when it comes to this issue.

“After discussing it for several weeks, doing our due diligence, talking to other municipalities, doing research, looking at the logistical pieces as well as looking at our numbers in Red Deer and the impacts of the pandemic, we know that this is the right decision to move forward with.”

She said they did not survey their employees before implementing the program.

“We felt that our healthcare system is in distress, and we were hearing from our citizens who are afraid they won’t get care, surgeries being delayed, and some people choosing not to go in for care and risking their health. So we took into account that, as well as we have staff from various departments who were part of doing the research and pulling this together and I’m confident in the information they provided.”

Lodewyk says they currently do not know how many of their employees or volunteers are fully or partially vaccinated.

“We needed to do this for the benefit of the community, we are one of the largest employers in the region, with over 1,500 staff.”

She said the reaction from City staff has been mixed so far.

“I’ve received several emails today thanking us for the decision that we made to move forward with this, and I’ve also received a few emails of concern from our staff.”

Lodewyk says the program will remain in place for the foreseeable future, and hopefully this will help reduce the amount of localized hospitalization due to COVID as well as the overall stress on our healthcare system.

“We really won’t see the impacts of this until December. Once it’s rolled out we’ll continue to monitor like we do with all the measures we have in place and adjust as necessary.”

City officials say the policy will be monitored throughout the pandemic and adjusted as needed. It will be reviewed and evaluated every year following that.

Please click here to see the FAQ for further details on the policy.

Visit our Corporate Policies page on the city of Red Deer website to view the full policy.

by rdnewsNOW Staff

City of Red Deer implements COVID-19 immunization policy for staff

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