409 new employees in the health network in the Outaouais

409 new employees in the health network in the Outaouais

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de l’Outaouais has hired 409 people, including nurses, auxiliaires, care givers and préposés aux bénéficiairesx.

These new employees have been deployed in different environments across the region, as explained by the Director of Human Resources, Communications and Legal Affairs, Martin Vachon, while explaining how the distribution will work in the coming weeks.

Two recruitment projects have made it possible to add new workers to teams in different sectors: a local initiative (274 applications, 249 hires), as well as the “Je contribue” website, set up by the Government of Quebec (765 applications, 160 hired, 149 people in the hiring process). In all, over 1000 resumes have been received.

The Director of Human Resources, Communications and Legal Affairs also gave details of the new “expedited” recruitment methods that have been implemented at the CISSS de l’Outaouais.

The CISSS de l’Outaouais also mentioned that the recruitment is continuing, to accomadate the increasing demand of human resources, particularly in CHSLDs. According to Martin Vachon, the Outaouais health network still needs about sixty attendants, more than 70 nurses, as well as young people in the food and household maintenance sectors.

Linguistic requirements
The CISSS de l’Outaouais has relaxed its language requirements for staff recruitment.

A person whose main language is English will be assessed upon hiring and a support plan will be put in place as needed to support the employee, as explained by the information officer – Media Relations at the CISSS from the Outaouais, Patricia Rhéaume.

The CISSS de l’Outaouais will discuss the possibilities with employees so that they can carry out their duties in an adapted environment. The objective is to ensure that users of health facilities are served in their desired language.

The CISSS de l’Outaouais had, however, begun to relax its measures before the COVID-19 crisis, given the labor shortage present before. Data on the number of people hired speaking English primarily in the context of COVID-19 are not available.

To find out more about the situation surrounding COVID-19, visit www.Quebec.ca/coronavirus. For those presenting symptoms or who have concerns can call: 1 877-644-4545.