Updates to the Adult Tetanus Booster Immunization Program
Correspondance from Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care/Public Health – March 13, 2025
Please distribute this message to all health care providers and other relevant individuals.
Effective April 1, 2025, Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care is updating the vaccine used for the adult tetanus booster immunization program as follows:
The Tdap Vaccine Factsheet, and Routine and Not Previously Immunized Immunization Schedules will also be updated online as of April 1, 2025.
Please ensure the correct Tariff codes are selected based on the product being administered. Existing tariffs for Tetanus, diphtheria (Td Adsorbed) will be removed at a later date. Physicians and those who shadow bill are to use the following Tariff code:
Tdap (Adacel®, Boostrix®): 8907
Please use up your supply of Td Adsorbed vaccine. Once depleted, please order Tdap vaccine on a go-forward basis. Please ensure that you have a supply of Tdap (Adacel®, Boostrix®) to support this program change.
The change from Td to Tdap aims to protect adults from pertussis (whooping cough) and subsequently reduce risk of transmission to infants who are at highest risk of severe respiratory disease, while maintaining protection against tetanus and diphtheria.
Education Opportunity – Acute Agitation in the Emergency Department
Southern Health-Santé Sud Pharmacy presents an education opportunity on a review of the causes of agitation with a focus on pharmacological management strategies for the acutely agitated patient in the Emergency Department.
Directors, Managers and Supervisors, please share and discuss this ROP resource with your staff in team huddles, or print the information for staff to review at their convenience.
Submitted by: Cailin Gagnon, Quality & Accreditation Coordinator For more info. contact:
Working from Home – Home Office Expense Deductions – Guidance for Managers
As with previous years, employees working from home may claim a deduction for certain home office expenses on their 2023 income tax return.
Employees are eligible for a home office deduction if they have worked form home more than 50% of the time for at least four consecutive weeks during the year.
Employees who elect to complete the form, are required to provide their manager with a printed or electronic CRA T2200 form with their sections completed.
Employee:
A T2200 form signed by your employer is required only if you are claiming your deduction using the detailed method.
If you are using the detailed method, do the following:
When the form is in good order, your manager will send it to your organization’s Finance Department to complete and sign the “Employer Declaration” section.
Finance will send you a copy of the completed, signed form.
Keep your signed copy for your records. Do not submit this to CRA unless requested to do so.
If you have questions regarding your home office deduction claim, see the CRA website for more information or talk to your accountant or financial advisor.
Manager:
Please do the following :
Review the form to confirm the employee meets the eligibility requirement of working from home at least 50% of the time for at least four consecutive weeks. Do NOT fill in the Employer Declaration portion of the form.
Confirm the employee has reviewed the list of eligible expenses on the CRA website.
For the employees who meet the eligibility criteria, forward the T2200 form to your Business & Finance Analyst.
Finance will complete and sign the Employer Declaration portion of the form and send a copy to both you and the employee.
Should employees have questions regarding their home office deduction claim, please advise them to see the CRA website for more information or to talk to their accountant or financial advisor.
Submitted by: Ainsley Wiebe, Regional Lead – Corporate Services
On March 1, 2025, the Southern Health-Santé Sud’s Recruitment & Retention team hosted a bus tour for 30 Health Care students! The students traveled by bus from Winnipeg to various locations in the region. The first stop was at Altona, where they toured Eastview Place and Altona Memorial Health Centre. Lisa-Marie Giesbrecht and Kathy Winters warmly welcomed the group and provided an informative tour and overview of the sites.
Next, the group headed to Boundary Trails Health Centre, where Carolyn Friesen guided them on a tour of the facility. The students also enjoyed a lunch at this location, during which the Recruitment & Retention team discussed the incentives and perks of working with Southern Health-Santé Sud. After the tour and lunch, the group continued on to Carman, where they visited Boyne Lodge. Helen Hoeppner and the staff greeted the students with a warm welcome and led them through a tour of the new-model Personal Care Home.
Many students shared that they were surprised by how much they learned about the region, including the impressive size of Boundary Trails Health Centre and the number of patients it serves annually. They were also amazed by the long tenure of staff at the Altona sites. The students especially enjoyed the new small house model of Boyne Lodge which included a the large and sunny environment!
The Recruitment & Retention team is optimistic that this event will inspire more individuals to consider working and living in our community!
We want to extend our appreciation to everyone who was involved with this Bus Tour, it was a great success!
Submitted by: Recruitment & Retention, Human Resources
Cultive tes racines! / Cultivate your roots!
During Mois de la francophonie
A message from Joel Lafond, Provincial Lead, Francophone Health, Shared Health
Bonjour & Hello,
I’d like to invite all staff to join the Francophone Health team in celebrating Mois de la francophonie this March. The month is an important chance to celebrate the strong roots that Francophone culture has in Manitoba, and Canada. In fact, that’s the theme of this year’s campaign: Cultive tes racines!/Cultivate your Roots!
Please take some time to visit our webpage to learn more about Francophone culture, check out events throughout the month, listen to some francophone music, and more. And, throughout March, Francophone Health will be putting on events to help celebrate Francophone culture.
Events
Francophone Quiz
Go to our webpage and take our Francophone culture quiz. You can be entered into a draw for tickets to Soirée francophone des Goldeyes 2025 (date TDB).
Word Search Contest
Complete three of the word searches on our website and be entered to win tickets to Journée de la francophone with the Valour FC (Date TBD). Just take a picture of the three completed crosswords and email them .
Francophonie Day Photo Contest
Send us a photo of you showing your francophone pride and you will be entered to win tickets to a play at the Théâtre Cercle Molière (date TBD).
Lunch with the Francophone Health team – March 20, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Curious about Francophone Health? Want to know more about the services we provide? Join the Shared Health Francophone Health team on journée international de la francophonie on March 20 for a virtual drop-in. Everyone who joins will be entered to win a pair of movie tickets at Cinémental 2025 – Winnipeg’s French-language film festival (date TBD).
Submitted by: FLS Unit For more info., contact:
Nutrition Month Bingo
Created by Jennifer Painter, Clinical Dietitian and supported by Nutrition and Food Services Team
Submitted by: Nutrition and Food Services
Make Your Next One Non-Alcoholic with a Mocktail March Challenge
This initiative is designed to raise awareness about the link between alcohol consumption and cancer while empowering Manitobans to make informed, healthier choices.
Why It Matters:
Did you know that alcohol is a known carcinogen that can increase the risk of several cancers, even with moderate consumption? This campaign aims to educate and inspire Manitobans to make small, meaningful changes—like choosing a non-alcoholic drink.
What You Can Do to Support:
Share the Key Messages:
Alcohol consumption increases cancer risk.
There’s no “safe” level of alcohol when it comes to cancer prevention.
Even small steps, like choosing non-alcoholic options, can make a difference.
The Philippines Recruitment Initiative | Final Update
October 14, 2025
Final Arrivals
It has come to that time! This is the final PRI update newsletter. In this issue, we look back and celebrate everything we have achieved together. With your support, PRI succeeded at mobilizing diverse teams across our province and health care system, ensuring a warm Manitoba welcome to PRI candidates and their families.
PRI successfully added a total of 150 healthcare professionals to our provincial workforce, including both nurses and healthcare aides.
348 candidates received letters of offer through onsite job fairs within the Philippines
Built a strong project management team to support and coordinate a complex network of activities
Met the first arrival target deadline in Summer 2023, with Chi and her family resettling in Thompson
Welcomed a record of 18 arrivals in one month in January 2024
Collaborated with legal, government departments, and staffing agencies to ensure streamlined immigration processes
Partnered with the University of Manitoba to administer in-person Clinical Competence Assessments (CCA) in the Philippines, soon followed by the launch of virtual CCAs for both the RN and LPN pathways, using ground-breaking VR technology to enable assessment completion from across the globe
Provincially coordinated orientation planning across the Health Authorities to ensure new hires were receiving a similar orientation structure for their pathway. This included partnership with Red River College Polytechnic to offer our health care aides with the Uncertified Health Care Aide 7-day course
Partnered with Red River College Polytechnic to coordinate and deliver the nurse re-entry program for IEN-UNEs virtually across Manitoba
Partnered with Assiniboine Community College to coordinate and deliver the bridge education program for SIENs virtually across Manitoba and offering skills labs to our Northern PRI nurses with support from University College of the North
Worked closely with CRNM and CLPNM nurse licensing agencies to put PRI nurses on the right path to attain nurse licensure
Current Overview
Five candidates remain to arrive to work in the following Health Authorities:
Southern Health-Santé Sud: 2 HCAs, 1 IEN-UNE
Northern Health Region: 1 SIEN
Interlake-Easter Regional Health Authority: 1 IEN-UNE
Looking Forward
Over February and March 2025, the project team will transition the remaining tasks to the Health Care Recruitment and Retention Office, directed by Conne Newman, Provincial Lead Health Workforce, and managed by Shelby Turman, Provincial Manager of Recruitment Services.
Shelby’s HCRRO team, along with support from Lisa Merrill, Provincial Nursing Practice Lead, Health Authority clinical and human resource representatives, and PRI new hires will continue to receive the support they require throughout their educational journey to attaining nursing licensure.
Thank you to Erin Lussier, Senior Project Manager, and Lesley Goss, Project Analyst, for their valuable contributions in management, analytics, and direct support to this initiative.
Sharing Celebration
Over the December 2024 holidays, many of our PRI new hires got together to celebrate the season. We are delighted to see and hear about the friendships developed between those who embarked on this journey.
Photos below taken with Health Sciences Centre PRI new hires and their families during their holiday celebration.
Thompson PRI new hires and their families during their holiday celebration.
Words of Appreciation
Thomas Aguila, a PRI IEN/UNE at the Grace Hospital, credits the British Council’s IELTS program for improving his English skills which “helped him be more attuned to his patient’s needs”. Read the full article “From Manila to the World: Filipino Dreams Take Flight with British Council IELTS” here.
Kari Saltarelli, a professional recruiter with Shared Health and cornerstone team member for the PRI since its inception, received outstanding feedback and notes of gratitude, with more than half of the PRI post-settlement satisfaction survey respondents taking the time to recognize her specifically.
“Kari did an excellent job…from recruitment all the way to our stay in the hotel.”
“Great work…especially to Kari, who always updates us before, during, and after arrival.”
“Kari is such a wonderful person.”
More gratitude from our PRI new hires:
“We are very satisfied with the entire process. The experience was smooth and wonderful.”
“We’re forever grateful for this big opportunity you have given us. This will be forever in our core memory.”
“Hands down, being with Shared Health’s recruitment process from interview in the Philippines until date today, I had the best experience of my life. It was a very smooth process.”
“Overall it is a wonderful experience for our family to be given a chance and opportunity to work and live here.”
“I am very grateful and satisfied with all the help you have extended. Your dedication in ensuring customer satisfaction is very commendable.”
Sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone involved!
At a Glance
Final Arrivals
Looking Forward
Sharing Celebration
Words of Appreciation
Inquiries
Questions on specific activities? Contact the workstream leads:
Clinical Competence Assessment (RN, LPN) Lisa Merrill
Bridge Education (RN, LPN) Lisa Merrill
Hiring and Shared Health Immigration Activities Shelby Turman
Settlement, Onboarding, and Orientation Community Settlement & HR Shelby Turman
ClinicalOnboarding Lisa Merrill
Communications
GoM Intergovernmental Affairs Sean Hogan John Simba
Why is it important for everyone to practice and promote driving without distraction?
The number one source of driver inattention is cell phones. Drivers using cell phones are nearly twice as likely to have rear-end collisions.
Provincial officials say a texting driver is 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than a non-texting driver.
Drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
Distracted driving fatalities in Manitoba: 41 deaths in 2021 (a 115.6% increase over four years).
Distracted driving accounts for 52.6% of total road fatalities in 2021. 25 deaths annually on average between 2014 and 2018 due to distracted driving. National context:
Distracted driving is becoming more prevalent than impaired driving as a leading cause of traffic fatalities in Canada.
In 2019, distracted driving was involved in 22% of all road fatalities in Canada, surpassing impaired driving at 19%.
Types of distractions contributing to accidents:
Cell phone use is a major factor, with texting or calling behind the wheel leading to greater cognitive distraction than other activities.
Other distractions include eating, talking to passengers, and adjusting in-car systems (radio, GPS).
Manitoba’s response: Public awareness campaigns aim to reduce distracted driving fatalities and injuries. Impaired driving still a significant issue, but distracted driving is now a more prominent cause of accidents and fatalities due to increasing mobile device use.
As of 2023 driver’s caught using a hand-operated electronic device are subject to the following penalties:
5 Demerits which will the increase the cost to the driver for their drivers license and for vehicle insurance (MPI/Autopac)
A fine of $672.00
An automatic 3-day license suspension for a first offense, 7-day suspension for subsequent offenses
Submitted by: Occupational Safety and Health Program For more info., contact: Tanner Asham, Occupational Safety and Health Officer
October 14, 2025
