Further to previous updates on our family Zoom meetings and ongoing discussions with the Three Links Family Council, we are pleased to provide an update on plans to bring our amazing team of care aides in-house as Three Links employees.

In March, ProVita announced their business decision to end their care aide contract with Three Links and lay off all care aides on-site as of

July 25, 2021.

ProVita is a private health care agency that has been contracted by the Three Links Care Society since 2007 to provide a range of services, including accounting, recreation, rehabilitation and care aide staff.

The accounting service contract was discontinued in 2018 and Three Links provided notice to end the recreation and rehab contract in January 2021. Three Links took these important services back in-house. These transitions have served the organization well and we expect to come out of this care aide transition stronger too.

In response to ProVita’s lay-off announcement in March, Three Links quickly reassured all care aides on-site of our intention to continue working with them at Three Links Care Centre. This news was well-received and we have been working closely with these health care heroes ever since to fully unify our team.

In cooperation with the Hospital Employees Union (HEU), Health Employers Association (HEABC) and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) we are in the process of finalizing a draft agreement to guide the transition and a new set of staffing rotations.

With guidance from VCH scheduling experts, our Three Links team has been guided by five (5) principles through the complex work rotation process:

Inclusion: Ongoing engagement with care aides and continuous quality improvement.

Focus on full time: Move toward more full-time shifts.

Respect collective agreements: Work closely with HEU throughout the process.

Care model: Maintain cohort model for staffing adopted during the pandemic.

Smooth transition: Minimize disruption for residents, families and staff during the transition while individual situations are responded to.

So far, we are excited to report 42 active care aides on-site have expressed their interest in joining the Three Links team. We are still finalizing the status of a small number of care aides that are either on-leave or off-site through BC’s single-site staffing order.

Their transition status to be finalized this week. We love all of the care aides working at the Care Centre and are honoured they have chosen to stay with us.

We want to thank the HEU, HEABC and VCH for their collaboration and advice through this historic time at the Care Centre. We look forward to continuing to work with the care aids.

We will keep you posted on progress over the coming weeks and safely celebrate the unification of the Three Links team together this summer.