Inside the Circle – November 11, 2026

Royal Winter Fair

• When: November 6-15
• Details: Held at Exhibition Place. More traffic and TTC crowding are expected around Strachan Ave, Fleet St, Lake Shore Blvd W, and the Exhibition GO/TTC loop.

Line 2 – Nightly Closure

• When: November 9-12
• Details: Starting at 11:59PM, Line 2 will be closed between Keele and St. George stations. Shuttle buses will run.

Line 1 – Nightly Lane Reduction

• When: November 9-12
• Details: Starting at 11PM, Line 1 will be operating on a single track between Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and Finch West stations. There will be a 15-minute wait between each train.

Line 2 – Full Weekend Closure

• When: November 14-15
• Details: Line 2, between Victoria Park and Kennedy stations, will be closed. Shuttle buses will run.

Beaches Santa Claus Parade

• When: November 15 (1 PM start)
• Details:
  • Kingston Road (from Victoria Park Ave to Walter St) will be closed.
  • Walter Street will be closed until Community Centre 55 (97 Main Street).
• TTC Disruptions: Local route changes and delays in effect from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM.
  • Streetcar: 503 Kingston Rd
  • Buses: 64 Main, 92 Woodbine South

Line 2 – Full Day Closure

• When: November 21
• Details: Line 2, between Kipling and Keele stations, will be closed. Shuttle buses will run.

Toronto Santa Claus Parade & Holly Jolly Fun Run

• When: November 22
• Details: New 2026 Route: Starts at Christie Pits, east on Bloor St W, south on Yonge St, west on Richmond St, south on University Ave, east on Wellington St, and south on Bay St toward St. Lawrence Market.
• TTC Disruptions: 
  • Streetcars (service gaps and delays): 501 Queen, 504 King, 505 Dundas, 506 Carlton, 509 Harbourfront, 510 Spadina
  • Buses (Full route changes in effect from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM): 13 Avenue Rd, 19 Bay, 72 Pape, 75 Sherbourne, 94A Wellesley, 121 Esplanade-River, 126 Christie, 300 Bloor-Danforth

Flu season is here, and getting your annual flu vaccine is one of the best ways to protect yourself, your family, your co-workers, and the clients you support.

As of October 26, the 2026-2027 flu vaccine is available to everyone in Ontario who is 6 months of age and older.

Where You Get Your Flu Vaccine:

• Participating pharmacies for people 2 years of age and older.
• Primary care offices for people 6 months of age and older.
• Toronto Public Health community clinics for children 6 to 4 years of age (by appointment).

Before You Get Your Flu Vaccine:

• Screen yourself and your family for symptoms of illness before going to your appointment.
• Stay home if you feel sick, even if your symptoms are mild.

Your health and safety are important to us. To help keep you safe at work, we regularly review workplace hazards and share information on how to prevent injuries.

Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs) are step-by-step instructions that explain how to do your work safely and reduce the risk of injury.

Our SOPs include safety information about:

• Slips, trips, and falls
• Body injuries
• Workplace violence
• Other health and safety risks

Please take a few minutes to review the Workplace Hazard Management Tool and SOPs on the Virtual Health & Safety Board.

More people are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to answer health questions. While AI can help you find general information, it is important to know its limits and when to speak with a healthcare professional.

What You Need to Know:

• AI can help you learn about health topics.
• AI is not a replacement for medical care or professional advice.
• Always speak with a healthcare provider about symptoms, diagnoses, or treatment decisions.

Each week, we’re proud to recognize the PSWs who are celebrating their work anniversaries. Every anniversary—no matter the number of years—represents the dedication, compassion, and commitment you bring to supporting our clients and community. Thank you for the important role you play at Circle of Care. This week’s list includes PSWs celebrating work anniversaries between November 8-14. 

Congratulations to the following staff on their years of service with Circle of Care:

November 8:

• 5 Years (MILESTONE!): Analy Lacorte, Kayron Samuel

November 9:

• 6 Years: Leonora Calaunan, Venus Joaquin

November 10:

• 12 Years: Hardy Nzeribe, Ludmila Zotkina, Noel Burguillos, Tatiana Karzinshchikova

November 11:

• 7 Years: Gerda Dorsainvil, Salve Janayon

November 12:

• 8 Years: Maria Kristina Ramoso, Maria Teresa Bartolome, Mei Yun (Melody) Zheng

November 13: 

• 9 Years: Crisanta Cabrido, Escarlet Caliboso Aquino, Rustica Nazareno
• 22 Years: Wilma Gatdula

November 14:

• 20 Years (MILESTONE!): Jasmin Sarmiento
• 21 Years: Michelle Francis

Individuals celebrating milestone anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 years) will receive a one-time cash award to their pay cheque at the end of the quarter. Payment amount will depend on service length.

High Five for PSW Rowena Bachini

“Rowena is incredible. She has been supporting me for many years, and I am very happy with her care.” – Client

High Five for PSW Winta Yemane

“Winta provides excellent service, and I am very happy with the care she provides.” – Client

High Five for PSW Vick Ramjattan

“Vick is very helpful and provides excellent support.” – Client’s Daughter-in-Law

High Five for PSW Theresa May Gabunada

“Theresa provides wonderful care, and I really appreciate her services.” – Client

High Five for PSW Janetta Krenzel

“Janetta is a very good cook, and I always enjoy the meals she helps prepare.” – Client

Has someone gone above and beyond at work? Give them a High Five!

The High Five program lets you publicly recognize staff members for their outstanding work. High Fives will be posted in your weekly Inside the Circle newsletter.

To give a high five, just click on the button below or use the link in the rotating banner on the Portal home page.

Please note: We do not accept anonymous submissions for this program. High Fives must be submitted by an individual person, whether they are a staff member or member of the community.

Do we receive a premium for working night shifts?

Yes, you receive a shift premium for all hours worked between 6 pm and 7 am on weekdays, and all hours (day or night) worked on a Saturday or Sunday. The shift premium is $0.60 per hour. You can find this information in the Collective Agreement (Article 25).

I get 4 to 5 hours of client visits in a day, but you are hiring new PSWs every month. I have given my coordinator full-time availability, but I am not getting full-time hours.

Circle of Care covers a very large area, and our new employees work in different areas of Toronto, Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, Thornhill, Richmond Hill and more. Our recruitment team focuses on hiring PSWs for areas that have fewer staff and more clients, so that we can provide these clients with regular visits, and so that other PSWs don’t have to travel so far from client to client. So this is one reason why we are hiring new staff.

One of the other reasons is that the number of PSWs available to work on any given day is not constantly growing as we hire new staff – employees can take time off for holidays, medical leave, maternity leave, other leaves of absence, etc. We need to be able to replace these visits while staff are off, and that’s not always going to be possible without hiring new staff.

Your first point of contact regarding your schedule should always be your Service Coordinator, as they are most familiar with your schedule, availability, and caseload. If concerns remain unresolved, you may escalate them through the appropriate supervisory channels for further review.

Some of my clients are 45-50 minutes apart from each other by travel. Every time I call the Call Centre or my coordinator to schedule me to closer clients, this is not done. Why don’t coordinators check when assigning PSWs to client visits, especially those of us who take the TTC? As we’re heading into the winter months, this is an even bigger concern. I think 30 minutes should be the maximum travel time between clients.

Circle of Care’s service coordination team works hard to match PSWs with clients who require care. Many clients have preferences for receiving care from our PSWs based on gender (e.g., a female PSW) or who don’t speak English and need a PSW who speaks their language. They may also have specific needs on the times that they require care, or the type of care they need (i.e., delegated acts that PSWs may be trained on). All of these different requirements can make it challenging to organize a schedule for our PSWs that minimizes travel time. Despite our best attempts to schedule clients within close proximity to minimize travel, we do occasionally need to have PSWs travel further to provide care to some clients and ensure that care is delivered, if there are no other available PSWs closer to the client’s location.

When staff are required to travel over 45 min, there should be short travel pay entered into the schedule. This generates a short travel pay. If you have travelled over 45 minutes and have not been paid for this, please reach out to your service coordinator to confirm that the short travel pay code was entered.

Have a question? Submit your questions or feedback anonymously below!

Please note that it may take us longer to provide some answers. If your question hasn’t been answered yet, we will get back to you as soon as we can.

If you experience violence, harassment, discrimination, or hate at work or during working hours, please report it to your Supervisor or Human Resources.

If you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can submit a report using the Anonymous Incident Reporting Form by clicking the button below.

You may choose to include your name to help with the investigation, but it is not required. Anonymous reports will still be reviewed and investigated.