Announcements

Michael Dwyer | October 21, 2022

Congratulations Ms Chapman. I am so pleased that the Federal Government has assigned you to be the federal nursing officer. I am the proud father of a Registered Nurse that works at the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. I remember when my daughter, as a high school student, was so excited to become a nurse. She worked hard to get her degree from Carleton University and Alqonquin College. She has been an RN for the last 10 years. Shift work is difficult, as you well know, as are some of the patients and patient’s family, but she always enjoyed what she was doing. Then along came Covid. Things were difficult for over 2 years but things have become so bad, that she, as some of her friends have already done, is contemplating leaving the profession. We hear the same story shift after shift. They are always short of nurses. So many patients for each nurse! Just the other day she had a 12 hour shift, from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Unfortunately no one showed up to replace her and she had so stay for 4 more hours. This just isn’t right. I appreciate that nurses are deemed essential workers and cannot strike but getting 1.5% increases is insulting. Our police and firemen, who have a difficult job, seem to get several percentage point increases, pretty much every time their contract comes up. I am not sure how teachers aren’t deemed essential workers, yet they get whatever they ask for, because there is so much peer pressure, from the parents of the kids. The parents can’t stay home to babysit their kids and the government knows that votes are important. Can hospitals run without nurses? Not a chance and everyone knows that. People only notice a problem when they require hospital services. Then the light goes on. I would suggest that we require nurses more, in time of need, then teachers. If kids miss a week or two of school, it’s not good, but no one will die. My daughter talks about the difficulty of managing 8 patients, the associated paperwork and doing all this outside the bounds of a 12 hour shift. To top that off, she works with nurses, from time to time, that have no experience and she is supposed to mentor them at the same time. I suspect I would consider leaving my job under these circumstances too. I know that I have mentioned my daughter a number of times but I am writing this on behalf of all nurses who have been put into an impossible situation. We really need to resolve this problem sooner then later. I would really hate to see my daughter leave the nursing profession, but she is struggling to stay positive as her nursing friends have left the profession and working conditions continue to deteriorate rapidly. Getting paid what you are worth would help out too! I really hope you can help nurses! Thank you for your time. Best of luck in your new job!!!