Nurses marched past Vancouver Islandsa国际传媒檚 busiest ER Thursday as part of rally to draw attention to a health-care system in crisis.
About 200 nurses from around the Island attended a B.C. Nursessa国际传媒� Union rally outside Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on Nov. 24.
Kelley Charters, council member with the union, said the rally was intended to send a sa国际传媒渓oud and clear messagesa国际传媒� to the government and the health authority.
sa国际传媒淭he health-care system is in a state of crisis, nurses are burning out, exhausted, and we are demanding some action now,sa国际传媒� she said.
Charters said hospitals are at 150 per cent capacity and staffing levels are sometimes as low as 50 per cent of what they should be. NRGHsa国际传媒檚 emergency room, the busiest on the Island, sees more than 230 patients per day, said Charters, with 40 patients there at a time some days. She said people sometimes wait six hours for life-saving medications, and children can wait as long as 10 hours for care.
sa国际传媒淧rimary care is not accessible, mental health services arensa国际传媒檛 accessible and so all those patients come to the ER. Itsa国际传媒檚 really the canary in the coal minesa国际传媒a国际传媒� she said. sa国际传媒淲hen all the other systems fail, we see all those patients in the emergency room.sa国际传媒�
Charters has talked to nurses already tears before their shifts at the thought of what theysa国际传媒檙e going to walk into. She said itsa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒渢raumatizingsa国际传媒� for nurses to know what patients need but seeing those patients face extended wait times.
sa国际传媒淭heir parents, their kids, their family, themselves, they live in these communities and have to access health care too and theysa国际传媒檙e really afraid itsa国际传媒檚 not going to be there for them when they need it,sa国际传媒� Charters said.
She worries about what it will mean for the community, and not just Nanaimo sa国际传媒� she pointed to urgent care closures and short-staffing in other places on the mid Island and the north Island. She said employers have a retention problem and said more respect and dignity for nurses would be one solution sa国际传媒� nurses should be part of more decision-making, she said, and she also thinks different approaches to scheduling, new incentives, and access to mental health supports would improve the status quo.
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檝e predicted that this crisis was coming for decades,sa国际传媒� Charters said. sa国际传媒淭heresa国际传媒檚 definitely enough blame, so to speak, to go around.sa国际传媒�
The B.C. Nursessa国际传媒� Union has launched a campaign website and encourage members of the public to visit for more information.
Provincial and territorial health ministers from across Canada met earlier this month to discuss a range of health-care issues including human resource challenges.
sa国际传媒淭hey reviewed the work underway across jurisdictions to capitalize on the training and recruitment of local health professionals, and to better enable the recruitment and licensure of internationally educated health professionals as one important opportunity for progress. They also discussed immediate actions and solutions underway, such as enhancing and modifying scopes of practice, including strategies to retain the existing health workforcesa国际传媒a国际传媒� noted a press release from the B.C. Ministry of Health. sa国际传媒淚n addition, the ministers recognized the importance of working on collective priorities to develop Canadasa国际传媒檚 capacity to train health professionals in order to meet health service demand over the coming decade.sa国际传媒�
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