Calian is dedicated to keeping communities, employees and the public safe, healthy and resilient. Never was this more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the need for community health support was urgent. Calian Health was well positioned to support communities across Canada by providing screening, testing, guidance and vaccinations quickly and safely.At the start of the pandemic, the Ontario Government chose Calian to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to Indigenous community members and residents of First Nations elder care homes in 31 fly-in northern locations. Indigenous Services Canada selected Calian to provide COVID-19 screening and paramedic services to keep Indigenous communities safe. From this point, Calian began contributing in many other ways to the Canadian pandemic response.Allphase, a Calian company, supports Canadian innovation, research and infectious disease preparedness. The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), part of the University of Saskatchewan, engaged Allphase to manage COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, including a booster study in Halifax, Toronto and Burlington. VIDO is developing subunit vaccines. Historically subunit vaccines are considered to be stable, making them ideal for remote areas where storage and transport are important.From September 2021 to May 2022, the Calian Emergency Management team developed a back-to-work action plan for The Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation (MSIFN) to guide a safe return to work after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. The plan provided structure and guidance for a scalable resumption of operations and a safe return of staff in a COVID-19 environment. The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority also engaged Calian to provide vaccination services to remote communities along the James Bay and Hudson Bay coasts in Northern Ontario.
Calian Health recruited, hired and deployed nurses to support the pandemic response in Nunavut, often at a moment’s notice. Calian nurses provided COVID-19 screening, quarantine management, testing and mental health support in isolation sites in Yellowknife, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Quebec City. The team of Calian nurses also supported the 25 communities in Nunavut through mass vaccination programs, flying to remote and isolated communities to administer vaccines to the residents.
The Government of Nunavut implemented virtual public health services in April 2020 to support the work being performed by public health teams and community health centres. These services involved both virtual public health nurse (VPHN) and hotline services. In June 2021, Calian signed a three-year contract extension to continue the delivery of COVID-19 virtual nursing services. The Calian team has delivered 110,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nunavut.
When the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) needed help for people detained at immigration holding centres in Laval, Toronto and Surrey, Calian stepped in to provide healthcare, health checks and COVID-19 screening, and adjusted medical protocols and procedures to accommodate pandemic requirements, such as isolation. Calian provides ongoing support to the RCMP at Roxham Road with COVID-19 screening and healthcare. In total, Calian has administered more than 650,000 vaccinations and tested or screened more than a million people throughout the pandemic.
Closer to home, Calian has supported the physical and mental health of its employees throughout the pandemic through flexible and working-from-home arrangements, health screening and testing, and frequent communication of protocols and processes for keeping all employees healthy, safe and resilient.
