May - June 2017
In this issue: Learn how BCNU North West region members are standing up for northern residents’ equal access to care. Get an update on the union’s violence prevention campaign and read about how BCNU is investing in the future of nursing by helping students succeed.
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Featured Articles
Bridge to the Future
It's been about 18 months since BCNU's Update Magazine 28 LPNs enrolled in an innovative RN briding program at Vancouver Community College. Twenty-six of those LPNs, whose tuition was paid for by BCNU, recently completed their final classes and are now eagerly preparing to launch new careers as registered nurses.
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Northern Lights
From permanently vacant lines and chronic overtime to never-ending overcapacity, the staffing problems facing our health-care system are all too familiar to working nurses everywhere.
Today, BC is experiencing its worse nursing shortage in over 20 years, and that means health employers are more challenged than ever when it comes to recruiting and retaining the staff required to deliver safe patient care
.
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Making the Move
Starting a career after nursing school, or beginning another chapter in mid-career, often involves moving and settling into a new community. It’s not an easy transition. For example, there are numerous financial challenges, such as transportation, food and housing costs that come with relocating to a rural or remote community.
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Standing Up for Safe Patient Care
Nurses at St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox are feeling a lot more secure at work now that their employer has agreed to hire properly trained, round-the-clock “hands-on” security personnel to oversee high-risk areas in the facility.
Time to Fill Up the Wage Gap
Nurses who care for at-risk children and youth in programs overseen by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) last month voted 82 percent in favour of strike action, sending a clear message that the system of care must be funded properly.
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Bloom Comes Off the Liberal Health-Care Rose
The future looked promising for public health care after the Trudeau Liberals were elected in 2015. The party had promised to take a constructive approach with the provinces, and agreed to negotiate a new federal-provincial health-care funding accord.
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