Mass screening: Vitalité Health Network receives a certificate of exemplary practice

Bathurst, Wednesday, October 20, 2021 – Vitalité Health Network is receiving a certificate of exemplary practice from Accreditation Canada for its effectiveness in conducting mass screening in the Restigouche region.  

Background

In May 2020, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province asked the Network to quickly roll out mass screening within the Restigouche population to get a more accurate portrait of the prevalence of the virus within this community. “This was a first in New Brunswick. We had 48 hours to deploy the screening in two locations, namely Campbellton and Dalhousie. Everything had to be completed within three days, with the objective of screening 1000 people per location. This was a colossal task, given the major human resource and pandemic challenges faced by all our services,” explained Stéphane Legacy, Vice-President of Outpatient and Professional Services.

Logistics

A working group was quickly formed to tackle all the issues and ensure this initiative was successful. “We had to organize our workers to facilitate good communication, look after signage, bring in the necessary technology, screening equipment as well as protective equipment, and find the most appropriate facilities to conduct this mass screening effectively,” Mr. Legacy said. “We had to design a site layout plan with different stations for screening, packaging the swabs, registration, break rooms, etc. We also had to coordinate everything with the provincial government so that participants could be issued a personalized code for the MyHealthNB portal and access their results.”

Human resources

A total of 166 employees and volunteers were deployed. “This was an exceptional effort against the backdrop of the pandemic and a labour shortage. Staff from the laboratories of the Campbellton Regional Hospital and Dr. Georges L. Dumont University Hospital Centre had to be redeployed internally to support the additional activity volume,” Mr. Legacy explained.

Result

Thanks to this initiative, 4500 patients, or nearly 20 percent of the population of the Restigouche, were screened. The success of this project formed the basis for a 37-page document laying out all the key elements for future screening initiatives conducted by either of the province’s health networks. This guide was used for three other mass screening initiatives conducted within Vitalité Health Network, namely in Campbellton/Dalhousie in October 2020, Belledune in October 2020 and Edmundston in March 2021.

The Network congratulates everyone who took part in this major initiative and who is continuing, despite our current challenges and issues, to make the Network stand out across the country.