CIWA Advocates for Workers in Long-Term Care

29 Jun, 2021
More than Just a Health-Care Aide banner

CIWA has collaborated with the University of Calgary in conjunction with the Parkland Institute to give immigrant women, particularly racialized women, working as health-care aides a voice.

‘More Than Just a Health Care Aide: Immigrant Women Speak About the COVID-19 Crisis in Long-Term Care’ is a report produced after listening to the stories of 25 Calgary immigrant women working on the front lines of COVID-19. The report includes 12 policy recommendations for health-care aides in the future.

“Long-term care (LTC) facilities have emerged as the single most critical setting for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across Canada. In the first two waves of the pandemic, LTC institutions accounted for nearly three-quarters of COVID-19 deaths in Alberta, with facilities in Calgary disproportionately affected… Within Calgary’s LTC workforce, immigrant and racialized women, in particular, are overrepresented. These workers are especially vulnerable due to the front-line nature of their employment, as well as their gender, citizenship status, race and/or class.” 

Click here to read the full report.