“If you want my vote, you will earn it. Show me your plan for fixing the nursing crisis and put it in writing.”
Alec Salloum, Regina Leader-Post
The message was sent loud and clear from the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) on Thursday afternoon: Politicians will have to earn their votes in this election.
Speaking on the steps of the legislative building to a crowd of more than 400, SUN president Tracy Zambory talked of conditions that nurses are dealing with in hospitals on a daily basis. She read letters from frontline staff, one of which started simply with “Hi Tracy, send help.”
Three days into the formal campaign period for the province’s 30th general election, health care is front and centre as the governing Saskatchewan Party and the Saskatchewan NDP seek to offer solutions to frontline nurses and health-care workers who are sounding alarms across the province.
“It’s clear (that) terrible things are happening every single day in our health system, and registered nurses have been pleading for help for months,” said Zambory, speaking of shortages in both personnel and equipment.
“If you want my vote, you will earn it. Show me your plan for fixing the nursing crisis and put it in writing.”
Though Zambory threw barbs at the way health care has been handled recently, she didn’t roll out the red carpet for Carla Beck and the Saskatchewan NDP either.
“The devil is always in the details. It’s easy to make promises. Registered nurses need to see action,” Zambory said after Thursday’s rally when asked about NDP campaign promises on health care.
Speaking in Prince Albert on Thursday, Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe said Saskatchewan’s nurses enjoy “remuneration rates” among the highest in Western Canada.
“This is a challenge,” said Moe, who noted that health-care issues extend across the country, but his party’s Health Human Resources (HHR) action plan for recruiting more workers is the “most ambitious in Canada.”
Over the last 18 months, Moe said more than 1,300 nurses have been hired in the province.
“Admittedly, there is much more work to do here,” he said, adding that the HHR action plan is ongoing.
Speaking after the rally, Beck said her government would be “fast out of the gates because our health care-system, as you heard today very clearly, is in crisis.”
If the NDP forms government, Beck’s party has already announced an additional $1.1 billion in planned spending over four years while also committing to bring back community health advisories and establishing a nursing shortage task force.
The Sask. Party also recently committed to a task force, though nurses say they have been calling for one for over two years.
Dr. Kathy Ferguson, a Regina ER physician, said she fears for the safety and health of her fellow Saskatchewan residents. Working in an ER, she’s seen the downstream effects of fewer family doctors in the province, describing how it adds to the workload of staff.
One of the four pillars in the HHR program is retention, but Dr. Ferguson sees little being done in that area.
“Engaging with physicians to stay in Saskatchewan begins by listening to them. Nobody speaks to us. Nobody asked my opinion, as with you,” she told nurses in the crowd.
With over 19 years of experience working as an ER nurse, Sarah Peters said she saw no impact as the Sask. Party government brought in plans to address overcrowding in Saskatoon hospitals.
“We have been ignored …,” said Peters. “In fact, safety has deteriorated. Things are so much worse.”
Also speaking at the rally was Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) president Samantha Becotte, who linked struggles in education with those of the nurses.
“Our two sectors are being gaslit, we are being disrespected, and we have had enough,” said Becotte. “They cut budgets, they cut services, they have privatized our public services, and they squeeze every last bit out of the people who are working to hold our systems together.”
alsalloum@postmedia.com
