About two hundred nurses gathered from all over the province to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, protesting a crumbling health care system and demanding more nurses to reinforce a dangerously overstretched workforce.
‘Crumbling’ does not strike me as hyperbole here, nor is ‘dangerously overstretched’. Listening to the speeches would make one realise just how badly frontline workers are having it right now. We’ve heard of such staffing shortages that nurses may have to operate at less than half of recommended numbers, for multiple shifts in a row, having to run around taking care of sometimes dozens of high-need patients at once. This is neither safe for the patients nor the health care professionals.
What’s more, the speakers stressed the fact that the pandemic only exacerbated an already acute chronic shortage. A system operating beyond capacity in normal circumstances is bound to collapse when a crisis occurs. No wonder so many nurses are leaving the profession; the government has ignored them for far too long, with the consequences that we know.
Combine this with a severe shortage of family doctors and an acute surgery backlog, and the result is indeed a crumbling health care system, disintegrating out of sheer neglect.
The nurses left the steps of the Legislative Assembly not demanding more money, but rather numbers and respect. I say they deserve both, and so do patients.
Fellow activists and advocates, come read the answer to every question about Victoria city council members that you've been too…
Two dozen environmental activists staged a demonstration outside Government House in Victoria, as hundreds of guests lined up for the…
Been waiting for a Saturday that didn't feel like a routine Palestine protest? Here's two on the same day, including…
Demand Victoria council members comply with their legal obligations under human rights law, as enshrined under the Canadian Charter of…
While morale remains high among regular protesters even after a year of weekly demonstrations against the Israeli regime, the scene…