To the Editors,
As a hospital nurse, I am devoted to caring for my patients.
Soon, Ontario’s 60,000 frontline registered nurses and healthcare professionals – members of the Ontario Nurses’ Association – will be negotiating a new contract with the Ontario Hospital Association.
As a nurse on the frontlines, I know that we desperately need better nurse staffing levels in order to be able to provide better care. Better pay, rather than the unconstitutional wage cap Premier Doug Ford imposed on hospital nurses for the past three years, will help retain and recruit more nurses. Every Ontarian should expect safe levels of hospital staffing.
As a nurse, I have risked my wellbeing for my patients. I have been exposed to COVID-19, been subjected to increased violence, and – along with many of my fellow nurses – continue to face increasing levels of exhaustion, burnout, and PTSD. These working conditions have led many nurses to leave their jobs and even the profession. This has, without a doubt, impacted the quality of care Ontarians receive.
Nurses and our patients deserve better.
I urge the people of Ontario to support local hospital nurses in bargaining efforts. We need improved staffing, better pay, and safer workplaces to ensure we retain nurses and provide safe, high-quality care. Without these critical improvements, we risk losing more nurses to Ford’s expanded for-profit surgical clinics, private nursing agencies, and other provinces and countries – all anxious to recruit Ontario nurses.
Please join me in urging the Ontario Hospital Association and hospital CEOs to put patient care first. Investing in nurses is the best way to improve access to timely, safe, and quality hospital care.
Our patients deserve no less.
Sincerely,
Brayden Redgers RN, Bargaining Unit President,
Norfolk General Hospital Nursing and Allied Ontario Nurses’ Association
