Someone just posted this to Twitter. I will transcribe the letter she attached, which is a picture. It looks as though this was sent out to the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP), but I don’t know which other groups of people have already received this letter.
Here’s the text of the first few paragraphs of that letter:
“We are writing to you today to enlist your urgent support. As you are aware, we are at a critical point in the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. As part of our efforts to flatten the curve and respond to COVID-19, we are seeking help from across the country and we believe your members would be well placed to assist.
There is an urgent need for people to augment capacity at provincial and territorial levels for surveillance and monitoring of COVID-19 cases. More specifically, we need assistance in detailed case reporting/analysis and contact tracing to help quickly identify cases and and break chains of transmission by isolating and monitoring close contacts.
Additionally, to prepare the health care system for the surge, there is a need to augment health care human resource capacity across all disciplines.”
You can look at the attached picture to read the rest of the letter.
They are looking for people with highly specific qualifications (although there is an “other skills” question at the very end). I put in an application out of curiosity, just to see what the screening questions are (I then deleted the application). They are as follows:
- We are recruiting volunteers to assist with COVID-19, these are not federal public service jobs. Please confirm your interest to be considered as volunteer. (Yes/No)
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Community Health?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Community Medicine?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Computer Science, Information Management and Information Technology?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Emergency Management?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Epidemiology?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Infectious Disease?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Laboratory (Viral, Bacteria, etc.)?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Mathematics and Statistics?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Medicine?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Nursing?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Public Health?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Public Health Inspection?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Surveillance?
- Are you studying or do you have a degree in Veterinary Medicine?
- Do you have knowledge of communicable disease prevention and control, specifically understanding of modes of transmission and public health management of communicable diseases?
- Do you have knowledge in using information management tools or databases to facilitate detailed reporting?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Clinical experience?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Communicable Disease Prevention and Control (specifically modes of transmission)?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Communications?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Emergency Management?
- Do you have expertise in Personal Support Work / Resident Care Work/ Nurse’s Aide/ Health Care Aide?
- Do you have functional and content expertise as a Physician?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Public Health?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in a Laboratory (Viral, Bacteria, etc.)?
- Do you have functional and content expertise in Surveillance?
- Do you have functional and content expertise on Quarantine?
- Are you able to work variable work hours? (Preference for Shifts: Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Late Evening/Other)
- Are you willing and able to travel, if necessary?
- Do you speak English?
- Do you speak French?
- Are you bilingual (English and French)?
- Do you have capacity in languages other than English or French? Please indicate in which other Language(s) you have capacity in, including Indigenous languages.
- What is the longest period you would want to be considered for? (Options to Select: 1 to 3 weeks; 3 to 6 weeks; 3 months; 3 to 6 months; 6 to 12 weeks; > 6 months; All)
- Do you have any other skill(s) that you would like to list?
Here is the link to apply online to volunteer for this critically important work (if you have not already done so, you will have to create a Government of Canada Jobs account). The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time, April 24th, 2020. Please reshare this message widely to all of your social networks! Thanks.