Nurses Rally to Highlight Ongoing Health-care Crisis
Hundreds of nurses took part in a rally on Nov. 4 to raise awareness about the ongoing health-care crisis in this province.
Members, who started at the Hyatt Hotel, were escorted by the Vancouver Police Department as they walked and chanted through several key downtown Vancouver roadways ending up at the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery. The staffing shortage continues to impact emergency rooms and patient care, and BC nurses were once again sounding the alarm about the health-care crisis.
The march led by Vice President Adriane Gear included union leaders who have travelled from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to walk with BCNU members.
BCNU President Aman Grewal spoke to the member-filled plaza, "BC's health care system is sick – at its breaking point – and nurses from all corners of this province have never seen it this bad."
Grewal explained how desperate health care work environments have become. "The nurse shortage is compromising your ability to provide the kind of care you know how to give, leading to significant moral distress within each and every one of you," said Grewal.
Grewal took a moment to discuss the banners that members were carrying. "As we look around, I see some of the messages from previous rallies we have held over the years. Violence. Not part of the Job. Mental Health Matters Respect Nurses," exclaimed Grewal. "We are calling on the government to produce a plan to fix this broken health care system. To listen to nurses and produce some viable solutions."
Through our membership with CFNU, we now have the support of over 200,000 nurses from right across the country, who are standing alongside us in this fight to make health care better.
Linda Silas, President of the CFNU called on all levels of government to respect nurses and provide them with safe working conditions.
"As your president has said, enough is enough," she said. "Two-hundred and fifty thousand nurses are pissed off!"
Silas wrapped by telling BCNU's 48,000 nurses to stay strong, stay proud, and stay loud!