Community Health Services and Support

As the province undergoes major reform to the delivery of primary care in BC, we have a valuable opportunity to learn from and build off the successes seen in other jurisdictions. HSA has long been an advocate for expanding team-based approaches to primary and community care. They allow health professionals with specialized knowledge and skills to collaborate to optimize patient...

One of the features of the new Community Health collective agreement that expires on March 31, 2022 is a $40 million fund for low wage redress. This is different than the comparability monies distributed in the agreement that expires March 31, 2019 because it will be applied to a greater number of positions. You can find the collective agreement language...

Community health sector workers, including 1000 HSA members, have voted in favour of a tentative agreement reached with health employers. The three-year will take effect April 1, 2019 and expire March 31, 2022. The new collective agreement brings in yearly wage increases of two per cent in each of the next three years in addition to enhanced benefits, provisions for...

Details of the Community Bargaining Association tentative agreement are now available for members here. HSA’s Board of Directors will meet on Tuesday, July 3 to review the terms, and to make a recommendation to members on whether to support the tentative collective agreement. HSA is a member of the Community Bargaining Association, which represents 16,000 community health workers – including...

The Community Bargaining Association and the Health Employers’ Association of British Columbia have reached a tentative agreement on a new collective agreement. HSA represents almost 1000 members in the bargaining association and was represented at the bargaining table by staff negotiator Jessica Derynck and member representative Katherine Oliver, a child care assistant at Thompson Nicola Family Resource Society. The joint...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2018 It’s be en nearly on e ye ar since the Cam pbell Riv er Sobering and Assessment Centre, operated by the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society, opened its doors to the public in July 2017. “We’ve been in continuous operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week since that time,” said HSA member and...

A second week of bargaining has wrapped up between the Community Bargaining Association (CBA) and the Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) in Vancouver. Talks are aimed at achieving a new collective agreement for members in community health. The CBA represents roughly 16,000 employees working in community health around B.C. The majority are represented by the BCGEU, which is...

In celebration of Mental Health Week taking place May 7-13, HSA has launched a new video that explores why team-based interdisciplinary care is essential to providing quality patient care within the field of mental health and addictions. “We need to see a person as a whole person,” says Kaye Robinson, a social worker at the Rapid Access Addictions Clinic at...

Are you an HSA member with a passion for disability management and rehabilitation? Do you have strong organizational, multi-tasking, and problem-solving skills? Are you employed with the Vancouver Island Health Authority? If so, consider applying to be an Enhanced Disability Management Program (EDMP) regional representative. Under the direction of designated HSA staff, the HSA EDMP Regional Representative works as part...

HSA REPORT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2017 Recognition of diversity is now essential to the health of our society and the strength of organizations. Today, leading institutions seek to understand the unique experience of their members in order to better represent and serve them. HSA has long sought to understand and respect the diversity of our members, and in March, almost 800...