WECHU school nurse hiring nearly complete

The Windsor Essex County Health Unit has hired 18 of the 19 school nurses it is looking for.

Last month, the province pledged to hire up to 500 extra school nurses to help prevent and deal with possible infections, with those 19 allocated to Windsor-Essex. 

But the search to fill the positions was not an easy one, and Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) officials had said they didn't want to take nurses away from other public health areas in our community to fill these roles. 

Dan Sibley, the director of human resources says 10 of the nurses were hired from within.

"We do have one French position that we're still recruiting for. We have interviews continuing this week and into next," said Sibley, while delivering a report to the WECHU board Thursday afternoon.

Sibley said they deployed existing staff to the schools so they were prepared for the school year. Two nurses helped with the situation at Stella Maris Catholic Elementary School earlier this week where a student tested positive for COVID-19.

"Within two weeks, we should have everything completely filled and hopefully bodies in the door," said Sibley.

The health unit is seeking about a million dollars in compensation from the province to pay the salaries and benefits for the nurses, according to Lorie Gregg, director of corporate services.

Gregg told the board the health unit is seeking about $3 million additionally from the province to cover anticipated costs associated with COVID-19 up until the end of the year.

"We've taken a very conservative approach in doing this," Gregg told the board. "Recognizing there are so many variables right now."