The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has advised the MNU office and local executive that due to continuing increases in the number of H1N1 cases, a state of emergency has been declared at the St. Boniface, Victoria and Health Science Centre Hospitals and the Pam Am Clinic. Currently there are 226confirmed cases in Winnipeg and 458 province- wide.

As a precautionary measure, some surgical slates have been moved from St. Boniface Hospital to Victoria Hospital.  Surgical staff and equipment has been moved to Victoria Hospital to open up more critical care beds at St. Boniface Hospital to accommodate any new H1N1 cases.

The statement of emergency at two Winnipeg hospitals came as the World Health Organization declared the first flu pandemic in four decades. This does not mean the virus is causing severe illness, but that it has spread across 74 countries.

MNU President Sandi Mowat has been in close contact with the provincial government and she has been assured that nurses will be provided with N95 masks. As of today, we can confirm that nurses are being fit-tested for N95 masks and they are being made available to our members.  

The Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions, along with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada, developed a policy directive to help protect nurses. The directive recommends:

• Immediate action around the identification and isolation of all patients with ILI symptoms and identification of all nurses and healthcare workers who may be at risk of exposure to H1N1, including those who are at the first point of contact in a care setting.
• Immediate fit testing of NIOSH-approved N95 respirators and provision of all appropriate PPE to healthcare workers at risk of exposure, as well as the provision of education and training.
• Immediate collaboration between all stakeholders is needed to formulate surge capacity protocols that can be carried out to ensure a safe supply of nurses and other health workers to manage health emergencies. This would include any accommodation rights as per collective agreements.

The WRHA has maintained ongoing contact with the MNU office and local executive at the affected facilities. The emergency declaration invokes Article 10 of the MNU collective agreement. For the duration of the emergency, the following provisions may apply:

• Shift rotations may be suspended or altered and nurses may be assigned to work on different units or transferred to another facility.
• If transferred to another facility, the terms of the collective agreement from the sending facility will remain in effect.
• The duration of the emergency will be determined by medical circumstances.  However, MNU will closely monitor the situation to ensure that working conditions are normalized as soon as possible.
• If in situations where nurses are transferred to work in other health care facilities where MNU members are already employed, additional shifts and/or overtime will not necessarily be offered to the nurses normally employed at that facility.

We have advised the WRHA that MNU members will, as always, provide the best possible patient care. We have advised that the MNU will reserve all contractual rights to deal with issues that arise during emergency and will make every reasonable effort to assist the WRHA by not raising contractual barriers during the emergency.  

However, we have also notified the WRHA that the safety of our members is non-negotiable and we will expect that all safety and PPE equipment will be provided to nurses as and when needed. We have also asked the WRHA to make every effort to consider extenuating circumstances when reassigning our members to avoid undue hardship.

If your work schedule is affected by the declared emergency, the MNU office advises:

• That you keep track of all hours worked.  Your Labour Relations Officer will assist you with any compensation issues that may arise.
• If you have any questions, particularly about safety issues, please contact your local executive or your Labour Relations Officer as soon as possible.

We remain hopeful that this emergency will be resolved early. However, we expect that there may be more cases from Northern Manitoba.  We will continue to keep local executive and members at affected facilities fully informed. The WRHA has provided timely information at affected facilities and to the MNU office.  If there are any changes, we will update the website and provided information directly to affected facilities.

Download a copy of the CFNU policy directive.