Just over a year has gone by since MNU participated in the CFNU’s National Day of Action by hosting a press conference on the front steps of the Manitoba Legislature.
September 17, 2021 was a very memorable day because we brought a hospital bed to the press conference and rolled it all the way up to the doors of the Legislature to show all Manitobans what has happened to our health care system.
That lone bed didn’t have anyone staffing it. It demonstrated that the staffing crisis in nursing means that hospital beds like this one will become the norm: just regular beds if there isn’t a nurse there.
It also brought home to the public the message that a hospital bed without a nurse is just a bed.
Since then, we have seen the situation in Manitoba and across Canada continue to deteriorate despite our best efforts to get governments to listen.
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare what we had been saying for years, that a staffing crisis was coming, that we didn’t have enough graduates to make up for the nurses retiring or leaving the profession…
The Day of Action was meant as a call for our provincial and federal governments to take real ACTION on the critical nursing staff shortage that we’re seeing from coast to coast to coast.
We have not let up in our advocacy on behalf of our members. There continues to be meetings with the decision-makers in power where we press them to listen to the solutions being offered by nurses.
Since our event last year, we truly believe that Manitobans have increased their awareness as to what is going on in our health care system and are each day becoming more and more active when it comes to protecting it, as well as preparing for the next provincial election.
We continue to have hope for a better tomorrow.
In solidarity,
Darlene Jackson
President
Manitoba Nurses Union