A home-grown initiative is receiving recognition at the provincial level for helping those in the business community in the battle against COVID-19.
Awarded at the 2022 AGM & Convention hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the heads of both the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce were awarded the Chair's Award for Innovative Program or Service, recognizing their efforts in launching the COVID-19 Rapid Screening Initiative.
That program, eventually adopted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and rolled out across the province, has led to over 8.6 million tests being delivered free of charge to small and medium sized businesses in communities across Ontario - with the goal of helping identify asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the workplace
Greg Durocher is the President & CEO of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Speaking as a guest on the Mike Farwell Show, Durocher said it was great to see the initiative - developed collaboratively with the Greater K-W Chamber's President & CEO Ian McLean - be recognized by colleagues throughout the chamber network for its work in assisting over 62-thousand businesses across Ontario in staying open safely.
"Obviously, Ian & I are community folks ... and we just want to do what's right. We try and leverage every opportunity to do that, and it's really wonderful to have your peers and colleagues recognize you in this way so we are very appreciative."
Originally implemented to assist businesses in Waterloo Region, Durocher said the pilot project in association with the federal government found immediate, overwhelming interest - leading to a call with Health Canada regarding how to best see the project distributed throughout the chamber network.
"We contacted Rocco Rossi at the Ontario Chamber, Perrin Beatty at the Canadian Chamber and they were all excited about getting the program up and running - so it's actually not just across the province of Ontario." said Durocher. "With our playbook on how to set it up and run it out of a chamber, it's gone coast to coast."
Durocher also argued that chamber of commerce organizations are not just full of highly motivated individuals, they're also uniquely positioned on their foundation of collaboration to deliver vital programs where government or organizations may have difficulty mobilizing.
"The chamber network is a really fantastic network to do that because we're not bound by guardrails." said Durocher. "The chambers right across the country just do things to fill the gaps and the voids that are in the community, deal with issues and help the community solve those problems. It doesn't matter what it is - whether it's healthcare, social or business."
The COVID-19 Rapid Screening Initiative continues to roll out free rapid tests to businesses regardless of chamber membership with 150 employees or less through participating chambers, though the Ontario Chamber of Commerce website does caution that some may be out of supplies on occasion due to high demand.
As of Wednesday, the Cambridge & Kitchener Waterloo "Chamber Check" website warns of a backlog of over 3,300 orders currently being tackled
