‘Nurses are exhausted’: Manitoba Nurses’ Union calling on province for more pandemic help

WINNIPEG (CityNews) — Exhausted, overworked, disrespected, hopeless.

These are some of the words the Manitoba Nurses’ Union (MNU) says their nurses are feeling. The union adds hospitals continue to be dangerously short staffed.

Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the MNU is sounding the alarm after they say nurses have come forward to admit they are struggling.

“Nurses are exhausted,” said MNU President Darlene Jackson in a statement to CityNews. “Many close to retirement have already left or are strongly considering leaving the profession. Younger nurses are overwhelmed and are seriously reconsidering whether to stay in the profession altogether.”

On Tuesday, provincial NDP Leader Wab Kinew tabled a letter during question period that he says was sent to him by healthcare staff at Grace Hospital, pleading for support from the government.

“Manitobans are waiting for days in the hallway at the Grace right now,” said Kinew, letter in hand. “What are healthcare workers at the Grace saying right now? I’ll quote: ‘it is a humanitarian crisis that has been fabricated by a government who has cut funding to our health care system and does not care about its people.’”

In response, Premier Brian Pallister said Manitoba has been addressing health-care issues since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our government has worked diligently and cooperatively with leaders of every other province and the federal government throughout this pandemic and before to address shared concerns about healthcare, about wait times,” said Pallister. “We’re the only province that’s actually making progress on reducing wait times, which is testament to the failure of the previous NDP administration.”

In a statement, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says the shortage of health-care personnel is a considerable problem that is not getting better.

“We were chronically short of nurses here in Manitoba before this pandemic began. Sadly, we are well beyond that now. The Pallister government’s decision to ‘restructure’ health care left us barely adequate in terms of patient care at the best of times. This pandemic has given us the worst of time.

“There has been an increased demand on health care providers, including nurses. There are currently a number of nursing vacancies in the ED at Grace Hospital, but recruitment is active and ongoing, and the vacancy rate has begun to drop in recent weeks. We have been able to redirect some staff to the ED, however we have required the use of agency nurses as well as overtime, and as a last resort, mandating shifts, to help meet demand and ensure patient safety.”

Health Minister Heather Stefanson says she hasn’t read Kinew’s letter on behalf of Grace Hospital staff, but notes that there are no signatures from healthcare workers at the bottom of it.

“We’ve announced the 60 new ICU nurses, more than 12, 12.6 equivalent full-time staff will be deployed to Grace Hospital alone,” said Stefanson. “I mean again, the staffing shortages are nothing new, it’s been going around, not just in Manitoba but it’s been across the country where there has been a shortage of nurses and staffing as well. So we’ve been addressing those issues with officials.”

The MNU is encouraging members to speak up about their work experience on their website anonymously, where they have already posted stories about being desperately short staffed.