Manitoba nurses are calling for motion to deal with a important staffing scarcity and poor working situations Friday.
It’s a part of the Nurses’ Day of Motion, an occasion taking place concurrently throughout the nation in help of points dealing with the career — which have been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union (MNU) advised 680 CJOB there are greater than 2,200 vacant positions within the province proper now — a quantity she’s anticipating to develop.
Earlier in September, the COVID-19 ward at Winnipeg’s St. Boniface Hospital alone noticed seven workers depart in solely 9 days.
“You may have as many hospital beds as you need, however in case you don’t have a nurse beside that mattress, it’s only a mattress,” Jackson mentioned.
“And that’s what we’re discovering in Manitoba, particularly — we now have many many beds, many items which are closed and may’t be open as a result of we don’t have the nurses to take care of these sufferers.”
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Jackson mentioned each space in Canada is dealing with an analogous crunch, however Manitoba’s state of affairs is made worse by healthcare cuts previous to the pandemic even starting.
“Following the fixed closures that occurred in Manitoba and inside the metropolis, we began to essentially see nurses leaving. We began to see shortages, and we’re now at some extent the place we’re seeing a important nursing scarcity,” she mentioned.
“I’m selecting to retire, regardless that I might have stayed within the career one other 5 years if I used to be working in an affordable state of affairs the place I wasn’t mandated to work 16 hours each shift I am going to work.”
The MNU, which represents upwards of 12,000 nurses of all designations throughout the province, will probably be represented on the Manitoba Legislature on Friday morning for a press convention, alongside NDP well being critic Uzoma Asagwara, and Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck.
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