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While it is obvious that healthcare workers at the frontline of the pandemic deserve our kudos and gratitude, some unsung heroes should warrant acknowledgment as well. They include thousands of healthcare professionals across the country who have emerged from retirement to offer to redeploy during the COVID-19 crisis.
According to numbers provided to the CBC from the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), at least 93 doctors in Ontario, who had retired or taken a form of leave, returned to work in direct response to the pandemic.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) says nearly 2,000 doctors have also signed up with an app that redeploys them to facilities that need help.
The CMPA offers medical liability protection for doctors who are part of its membership, but many retired physicians or those not practising are no longer members. The Association has, therefore, created a special category for those retired physicians to come back and be able to use the humanitarian type of work category. That category, typically reserved for overseas work, allows for doctors’ memberships to be restored faster and for doctors to get back to work more quickly.
The CPMA said that somewhere between 350 – 400 physicians across Canada have registered with the Association to be protected. These physicians are most likely coming out of retirement to do so. That number could also include doctors on leave. Of that, 93 are physicians in Ontario.
Dr. Todd Watkins, Associate Executive Director at the CMPA, said that the physicians that are coming out of retirement and changing their practice in order to respond is really prompted by their feeling of a call to action. According to Dr. Allyn Walsh, a retired family physician who has picked up shifts at her former clinic: “When you have some skills and some training, you can’t just sort of sit there and twiddle your thumbs while Rome burns.”
Across the country, retired nurses are also answering the call to return to the front lines. CTV reported that workers coming out of retirement could be manning health phone lines in Ontario or helping out with hospital rounds in Nova Scotia – help is needed all over the country.
In Quebec alone, around 10,000 retired healthcare workers responded to the call for aid. It’s a gesture that prompted Premier Francois Legault saying he was proud to be a Québécois in a press conference.
The Globe and Mail reported that a 74-year-old former nurse Marie-Reine Seguin, who retired in Quebec in 2005, is among many who offered her services. Disturbed by the misinformation and panic she saw circulating in her community of Mont-Tremblant, in Quebec’s Laurentians region, she figured she’s well qualified to help with Quebec’s Info-Sante information line, having been part of the original ream that launched it around 1986. She said she was prompted to help after seeing panicked shoppers hoarding toilet paper and spreading misinformation about the virus.
Manitoba was also changing the rules to get former nurses back in hospitals and bolster its healthcare staff before the COVID-19 crisis got worse. The province now lets former nurses apply for an expedited temporary registration during the pandemic. Returning nurses must have been in good standing with the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba during the last five years, and must be able to safely provide care. Application and registration fees are waived for former registrants applying through this process.
As Canada experiences a third wave of the COVID-19 due to the surge of variants of concern, these unsung heroes are even more needed to help us weather the health crisis as we wait for more people to be vaccinated across the country. So if you’re a retired healthcare professional wanting to help, please take immediate action by contacting your local health authorities or community hospitals. Boomers always want to give back after their retirement, and this is the best opportunity to do so.