Ontario Premier Doug Ford referred to the province as an army of 14 million during his press conference on Tuesday, as the Ontario government has sounded the horn for health care volunteers.
The Ontario government is recruiting health care workers to increase the frontline capacity of hospitals, clinics, and assessment centres. On Tuesday, the province launched a new online tool that will help match skilled frontline workers with employers.
The new Health Workforce Matching Portal will enable health care providers with a range of experience to join the province's response to COVID-19.
Those providers include retired or non-active health care professionals, internationally educated health care professionals, students, and volunteers with health care experience.
The portal will efficiently match the availability and skillsets of frontline health care workers to the employers in need of assistance to perform a variety of public health functions, such as case and contact management.
"Our health care heroes on the frontlines of this battle are doing extraordinary work, but they need reinforcements to step up and lend a hand to help defeat this virus," said Ford.
"Whether you're retired or in training, we can't afford to have people with professional health care skills who want to help sitting on the sidelines during this crisis. This is a call to action and I encourage every available person with health care experience to get involved."
Employers and interested health care professionals can visit the portal here and create a profile. Once registered, professionals can add their availability and employers can enter their request for support. Registrants will receive an email notification if matched.
"Since the beginning of this outbreak, we have heard from thousands of volunteers who want to help in any way they can," said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
"We are very grateful for those stepping up during these unprecedented times. That's why we are using everything possible to support these frontline healthcare workers as they fight the spread of this virus."
On April 1, Ontario issued a new emergency order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, to enhance the public health units' human resources capacity and support their ongoing fight against COVID-19.
You can watch Tuesday's press conference below.
