Nearly 150 Northern Health nurses rallied in Vancouver, B.C. on Friday, Jan. 24 for safer work conditions.
The nurses were in Vancouver for a two-day regional bargaining conference organized by the B.C. Nurses' Union (BCNU). They laid out their bargaining priorities ahead of contract negotiations that are set to begin this year.
"A worry we have is if we can't treat nurses better, we're not going to be able to recruit enough nurses, whether it's in the North or anywhere in B.C," said BCNU President Adriane Gear.
Gear said there are already not enough nurses to provide the care that British Columbians need and that issue will persist or may even get worse if unsafe work conditions continue.
She brought up an example of a "deplorable staffing situation" in which a Northern Health nurse had to work at 22-hour shift. A neighbouring community had to close their ER, which meant those who needed medical assistance had to go to the hospital the nurse was working at.
"This nurse was required to work 22-hour shift basically against her will," she said. "She was required to stay despite expressing concerns about fatigue and not being able to practice safely. She got eight hours off and had to work another 16-hour shift."
The nurse shared with Gear that if these kinds of working conditions continue, she would consider leaving the profession.
"We wouldn't do that to a pilot, right? You wouldn't be allowed as a truck driver. It wouldn't be safe," said Gear. "Healthcare is a highly safety-sensitive industry but nurses are treated like robots. We are people."
Another thing the nurse was worried about during her 22-hour shift was that nobody was at home to let her dog out of the house.
"What if she had kids? Nurses are put in these situations each and every day. It's not every nurse, it's not at every facility, but it happens more than you think," Gear said.
"What I hear from nurses all the time is they know that if they don't stay or they don't come on their day off, then the ER will close. It's a huge burden for people to take on, having to shoulder the burden of the deficits of our healthcare system."
Gear believes safer working conditions for nurses will improve the healthcare system as a whole.
鈥淔rom the fishing villages of Haida Gwaii to Dawson Creek and all the communities in between, nurses who live and work in northern BC are determined to make health care better for patients and the communities they care for," wrote the BCNU in a Jan. 23 press release.
