The Canadian Forces will send about 125 military health care personnel to Quebec to help overworked staff dealing with the coronavirus in long-term care facilities.
Quebec had requested the personnel through the federal government.
A military liaison and reconnaissance team will be sent to the province on Friday. That group will help establish the locations and protocols for approximately 125 Canadian military members with health care training. The first of the members with health care training will arrive on Saturday in Quebec, according to the Canadian Forces. The teams, known as Augmented Civilian Care Teams, will be comprised of nursing officers, medical technicians and support personnel. They will assist Quebec doctors and nurses by providing civilian patient management, including the medical care of those long-term care facilities, assist in the coordination of nursing and logistical requirements as well as with the delivery of federally or provincially-sourced essential protective equipment to those working in the care facilities.
The Canadian Forces also has 80 Canadian Rangers that still remain in Nunavik, Northern Quebec, and are working closely with the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services to prepare triage points to aid the work of healthcare personnel, the military noted in a news release. Also underway, at the request of the Quebec government, is the deployment of approximately 80 Canadian Rangers in Basse-Côte-Nord in Eastern Quebec to assist vulnerable people and support local physical distancing awareness programs, the Canadian Forces added.
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