BCNU Update Magazine December 2014

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

UPDATEBRITISH COLUMBIA NURSES’ UNION

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14 KWANTLEN STUDENTS TACKLE CARE DELIVERY CHANGES

NURSES UNITED:UPN AND BCNU ARE STRONGER TOGETHER

ADVOCATING FOR TRANS-COMPETENT SENIORS’ CARE

SOCIAL MEDIA DOs AND DON’Ts

IT’S TIME FOR A POVERTY REDUCTION PLAN

BARGAININGSAFE

PATIENT CAREUnion members around the

province gathered this fall to prepare for negotiations in the year ahead

for BCNU is

“ “Contact your regional chair or lobby coordinator to find out how you can support a student nurse in need.

Nursing school is a hard place to be poor

Studying is expensive, and can be a cause of

great stress. For many student nurses it means

having to choose between paying for tuition and

books or paying for rent and food. Poor students

can’t rely on family – in fact, they often have

family members relying on them.

No student should go hungry.

This holiday season, you can help

a student who’s struggling to make

ends meet. BCNU is encouraging

members across the province to

adopt a student nurse. Let’s help our

next generation of nurses and build

relationships that show we care.

UPDATE MAGAZINE December 2014 3

CONTENTS

IT’S ABOUT SAFE PATIENT CARE

FEATURE

UPFRONT

DEPARTMENTS

UPDATE vol 33 no 5 • december 2014

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COMMITTED TO SOCIAL JUSTICE BCNU RIVA region chair Lauren Vandergronden (l) joined Pivot Legal Society executive director Katrina Pacey for the October launch of its annual Hope in Shadows calendar (see story on page 24).

Union members around the province gathered this fall to prepare for bargaining in the year ahead.

6 Check InBCNU members are speaking out for nurses and patients.

10 Asbestos ScareHazard shuts down Port Coquitlam health unit.

15 Ebola ResponseRecent epidemic highlights the need for effective infection control.

19 Time for a Poverty Reduction PlanBC is alone in neglecting the social determinants of health.

34 Student BursariesBCNU LPN members are investing in their education.

44 PRFs WorkNurses take action to tackle chronic understaffing at West Coast General Hospital.

5 PRESIDENT’S REPORT

36 YOUR PENSION

42 HUMAN RIGHTS & EQUITY

48 WHO CAN HELP?

49 COUNCIL PROFILE

50 OFF DUTY

Think before you post!

Check out our list of social media dos and don’ts – and protect

your license online page 46.

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OUR MISSION STATEMENT BCNU protects and advances

the health, social and economic

well-being of our members

and our communities.

BCNU UPDATE is published by the

BC Nurses’ Union, an independent

Canadian union governed by a council

elected by our 42,000 members. Signed

articles do not necessarily represent

official BCNU policies.

EDITOR Lew MacDonald

CONTRIBUTORS

Juliet Chang, Sharon Costello, Monica

Ghosh, David Cubberley, Gayle Duteil, Gary

Fane, Catherine Fast, Katharine Kitts, Evans

Li, Michelle Livaja, Courtney McGillion,

Catherine Pope, Dan Tatroff, Patricia Wejr

PHOTOS

Sharon Costello, David Cubberley,

Monica Ghosh, Stephanie Kellar,

Katharine Kitts, Dan Kruk, Lew MacDonald,

Catherine Pope, Patricia Wejr

CONTACT US BCNU Communications Department

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BCNU WEBSITE www.bcnu.org

EMAIL EDITOR [email protected]

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UPDATEMAGAZINE

BC Nurses’ Union

When you move, please let BCNU know your new address so we can keep sending you the Update, election information and other vital union material. Give us your home email address and we’ll send you the latest BCNU bulletins and news releases. And if you’ve changed your name, please let us know.

MOVING? NEW EMAIL?

Please contact the Membership Department by email at [email protected] or by phone at 604-433-2268 or 1-800-663-9991

STAY CONNECTED


PRESIDENT’S REPORT and link up with a member of your regional

executive or provincial bargaining com-mittee. Bargaining will be a long process. Your voice and your input are important so that we get it right, and achieve a balanced agreement that meets the needs of nurses and provides quality care for patients.

With the holiday season here, many of us will take some time for reflection. Personally, the season is an opportunity to count the blessings so many of us have. One of my blessings, my son, often reminds me that some of the issues I raise are truly “first world problems.” When my cell phone died recently, I deemed it a crisis. It was not.

A real crisis is the fact that BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada while also remaining the last province without a poverty reduction strategy. How can this government continue to turn a blind eye to the social determinants of health? BC’s record on poverty reduction, homeless-ness, mental health injuries, and childhood nutrition – to name just a few – is shameful. It’s time for this government to get serious and give back to those who need it most. But our members aren’t waiting for govern-ment action. Nurses play an important role in their communities supporting the most vulnerable this time of year – they’re volunteering and speaking out as activists on issues like chronic poverty or the need for adequate rural health care.

Whether in the workplace, at the bar-gaining table or in the community, there’s no question that BCNU members have a strong voice.

I would like to thank all those nurses who are working through the holiday season. I have no doubt there will be long shifts, heavy caseloads and not enough staff. I also know you’ll be away from your families and friends at a time when others are celebrat-ing. Regardless, nurses will always be there to care for the citizens of British Columbia. But I would ask one last thing: please remember to care for yourself.

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR VOICE

GAYLE DUTEIL

W HEN ASKED ABOUT PREPARING MY COLUMN FOR THIS issue of Update magazine, I had to shake my head: “No, it can’t be December already?” I thought.

There’s no doubt that this fall has been an exceptionally busy one. We’ve been successful in further uniting the family of nurses with the

completion of the merger between BCNU and the Union of Psychiatric Nurses. I want to personally welcome each and every one of the more than 1,100 RPNs to our union. Nurses are now stronger together, and there’s no question we’ll be a stronger, more effective voice as we head into a tough set of provincial contract negotiations in the coming year.

I’ve been hearing that voice over the past few months in meetings with hundreds of nurses, social workers and other health care professionals that make up our membership. The level of engagement I have seen as I have toured the province during our recent series of bargaining education workshops has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve been listening to your concerns and hearing your stories of horrendous caseloads and overtime shifts. Rest assured I will be bringing these forward to the bargaining table. These stories will be critical to our success and help ensure that we have a strong collective voice in advocating for safe patient care.

For those members who were unable to attend the workshops, please stay informed. Check our website frequently for bargaining updates, sign up for our weekly e-newsletter P

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Congratulations to all the nurses who ran in BC’s recent municipal elections, includ-ing the following members who applied for and received support from BCNU and were elected on November 15: public health nurse Linda Buchanan, who was handily re-elected with the second

AND THE WINNER IS…

Over 1,000 BCNU members partici-pated in our recent magazine readers’ survey. The information they provided will be invaluable for improving the pub-lication in the years ahead. We are proud to announce that Kelowna General Hospital acute care nurse April O’Brien was the winner of our draw. April is now the recipient of a brand-new Apple iPad Air 2. Congratulations!

NEWS FROM AROUND THE PROVINCE

CHECK INMOVEMBER 2014

highest number of votes for councillor in the city of North Vancouver, and community nurse Michael Prevost, who made his f irst run for municipal off ice, and will soon be attending a council meet-ing as the city of Terrace’s newest councillor.

CONVERSATION PIECE The “Mo Bros” of BCNU’s Men in Nursing caucus made effective use of their hairy upper lips to raise awareness of men’s health issues.

BCNU’s MEN IN NURSING CAUCUS WAS ONCE again busy manicuring their mustaches throughout November to raise money and awareness for men’s health, specifically men’s cancer and mental health issues.

In what’s now become an annual initiative, the men in the group register at Movember.ca at the beginning of the month and then trade in their clean-shaven faces to proudly sport their Mo’s (slang for moustache), asking friends, family and co-workers to donate to their efforts. With their new moustaches, these Mo Bros act as walking and talking billboards, bringing awareness to men’s health issues and prompting conversations.

For MIN caucus chair Walter Lumamba, this year is especially mean-ingful. “My dad passed away recently, and he had rectal cancer,” he says. “Unfortunately he did not get checked in time – and when he did, it was too late for him.”

Lumamba says his father’s story underscored the importance of not taking our health for granted, and making sure men get examined. “We need to take care of ourselves, especially when we are above 40 years of age – it’s important to check everything below the belt.”

As this issue of Update went to press, the group had raised almost $4,000. update

MOUSTACHE WITH A MESSAGE

AVERAGE UNION WAGE This is, on average, $5.60/hour more than the rate non-union workers earn, and adds up to $117,251,631 to the provincial economy every week.

31% $28.02 / hour

$6.49/ hour

VITAL SIGNS Numbers that matter

WOMEN WORKERS The average difference in hourly wage between union and non-unionized women workers in BC.

Raising awareness and funding for men’s health

Recent research prepared for the Canadian Labour Congress shows that good-paying local jobs have a real benefit for all. In 2013 the fair wages and work hours that unions negotiated delivered over $117.2 million more every week into the provincial economy through better paycheques for workers.

UNIONIZATION The percentage of the workforce who are union members. This figure represents 595,700 workers throughout BC.

NURSES AT CITY HALL


RUNNING ON OVERTIMEWhen a June 2014 human resources report by the Health Employers Association of BC – which compiled statistics about health care workers’ staff-ing levels, wages and hours worked between 2010 and 2013 – was leaked to The Vancouver Sun, BCNU President Gayle Duteil told the paper that the report confirms what nurses already know: the health care system has, for too long, been run on the backs of employees like nurses who work long hours, too many days in a row.

“The system is running on overtime,” said Duteil. “ We

are now talking about nor-malizing the abnormal.” She argued that until overtime numbers are decreased, sick leave numbers will not fall because the former leads to the latter.

The report indi-cates the average full-time nurse put in 61 hours of overtime in 2013, compared to 35 hours for facili-ties workers, 27 hours for health sciences workers, and 24 hours for

community workers.BC spent $181 million in

overtime for health workers in 2013. BCNU and other unions have raised con-cerns about understaff ing for years.

MAKING NEWS BCNU in the headlines

CANADA’S HEALTH SPENDING HITS SLOWEST GROWTH RATE SINCE 1997

Gayle Duteil

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE BCNU Coastal Mountain region members (from left) Angela Powley, Kath-Ann Terrett, Danielle Ciambrelli and Scott Jones stand with a wreath “Remembering the nurses who served in areas of conflict.” The wreath was laid at the North Vancouver War Memorial on November 11.

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information, National Health Expenditure Trends, 1975 to 2014.

HEALTH CARE SPENDING ACROSS CANADA IS projected to grow at its slowest pace in 17 years. That’s the latest information contained in a new report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). It’s a trend that has emerged over the last four years.

The news might come as a surprise considering the often repeated claim by politicians and media pundits that public health care is an “unsustainable” beast that threatens to bankrupt provincial treasuries.

While expenditures are increasing annually, the rate of spending is at 2.1 percent – a record low over the last 17 years. This is much smaller than the roughly seven-percent annual increases that were the norm from 2000 to 2010.

The report’s numbers show that there is more than enough room in provincial budgets for health care, and that investments in staffing and other infrastructure are not only necessary, but affordable.

How much is being spent on health care? Health spending in Canada is projected to grow by approximately $4.5 billion this year to reach $214.9 billion. This amounts to $6,045 per Canadian, about $61 more per person than last year.

The rate of growth in health spending (2.1 percent) continues to be less than inflation and population growth combined. Health spending decreased by an average 0.4 percent per year in the last four years after adjusting for these factors.

Overall, health expenditure is expected to represent 11 percent of Canada’s GDP in 2014, a share that has fallen gradually in the past few years – down from an all-time high of 11.6 percent in 2010. update

8 CHECK IN

BCNU RUNS FOR THE CURE

ON SUNDAY, OCT. 5, OVER 127,000 participants and volunteers came together for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s CIBC Run for the Cure day, and through the support of generous donors raised over $25 million for innovative breast cancer

research, health education, and advocacy initiatives throughout Canada.

Runs were held in communities across BC, and BCNU members were there to show their support and raise funds for this important initiative. In Abbotsford, members of BCNU’s Fraser Valley region who turned out to participate also found themselves putting their nurs-ing skills into action during the run.

“We saw a young girl on the side of the trail and she was crying and hyperventilating and said she was seeing stars,” explained Fraser Valley chair Katherine Hamilton. “We stopped mid-stride, calmed her down, got her head between her knees, organized her breathing and got her feeling better.” It turned out that the young runner didn’t have enough breakfast and was feeling light headed. “We helped her for a good 10 minutes and made sure she was okay.”

BCNU Fraser Valley region communications secretary Janelle Halldorson assisted Hamilton, and also helped raise funds on behalf of the BCNU team. “Lots of people in my family have been touched by cancer and I think it’s a really important event to sup-port,” said the Abbotsford Regional Hospital nurse who is also co-chair of the BCNU Young Nurses’ Network. “As an oncology nurse, I feel like I have a strong connection to everything that cancer touches.”

Hamilton says it’s important for BCNU to support an event like Run for the Cure. “We need to raise awareness about who the nurses are – that we care about patients and finding a cure and we are supporting our friends, our sisters, our mothers, our aunts – so many people – and it’s good for this community to know that the BC Nurses’ Union cares.” update

PHOTO FINISH BCNU Fraser Valley region chair Katherine Hamilton (right) makes it across the finish line during Abbotsford’s Run for the Cure event while regional communications secretary Janelle Halldorson looks on.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY CAUCUS members met this October to plan for the year ahead. From left: BCNU North East region chair and Workers with Disabilities caucus council liaison Roni Lokken, Aboriginal Leadership Circle chair, Michelle Martinson, East Kootenay region chair and Aboriginal Leadership Circle council liaison Lori Pearson, LGBT caucus chair Cynthia Reid, Workers of Colour caucus chair Jessica Celeste, Workers with Disabilities caucus chair Kelly Woywitka, South Fraser Valley region co-chair and Young Nurses’ Network council liaison Jonathan Karmazinuk, Young Nurses’ Network chair Catherine Clutchey and BCNU Human Rights and Equity committee chair Mabel Tung.

THIS WINTER HAS SEEN BCNU bid farewell to two of its longest serving staff members.

Carla Owen’s tenure with the union predates the organization itself. Carla was hired in 1979 to work for the labour rela-tions division of the Registered Nurses’ Association of BC (BCNU did not form until 1981). Owen was BCNU’s longest serving COPE 378 staff member, and was a familiar face to union members attending BCNU conventions and conferences over the years. Carla worked as data entry clerk in the union’s f inance and admin-istration department and steadily increased her respon-sibilities in f inance. Carla moved to BCNU’s organizing

department last year prior to retiring in November.

Dyan Savard was a familiar face to many over the years. Hired in 1991, she worked as a

secretary and could be found assisting other staff in BCNU’s servicing, education and com-munications departments. Dyan also staffed the union’s reception desk, and her talent for languages allowed her to greet many members in their native language. She retired in November. update

BCNU STAFF NEWS

Carla Owen Dyan Savard


A DONE DEAL The leadership of the UPN and BCNU have taken the next step of applying to the BC Labour Relations Board for approval of the merger of both unions. From left: BCNU Vice President Christine Sorensen, BCNU President Gayle Duteil, UPN President Dan Murphy and UPN Vice President Grahame Hopkins.

UPN MEMBERS VOTE TO MERGE WITH BCNU

STRONGER TOGETHERRPNs + BCNU

OCT. 30 MARKED THE beginning of a new era for registered psychiatric nurses in British Columbia. Leaders of the Union of Psychiatric

Nurses (UPN) gathered in Langley to count ballots in an historic vote that saw members of the UPN voting strongly in favour of join-ing the British Columbia Nurses’ Union.

“We are pleased to announce that after ballots were counted, UPN members have voted 80 percent in favour of the pro-posed merger with the BCNU,” said UPN President Dan Murphy.

“Today RPNs made history,” said Murphy, thanking the over 60 percent of UPN members who participated in the democratic process. “There was a clear recognition across BC that the best way to advance psychiatric nursing and grow its voice on mental health issues was to join forces with BCNU.”

The UPN members’ decision to support a merger with BCNU brings 1,100 RPNs into the BCNU.

“I want to extend a warm welcome to each and every new RPN member,” said BCNU President Gayle Duteil after the ballot count. “This merger gives us all a stronger voice on mental health, violence-reduction and safe patient care.”

Murphy agreed. “We’re stronger together and that will help us advance our mental health agenda and secure the profession of psychiatric nursing,” he said.

The next step in completing the merger involves an application to the BC Labour Relations Board under section 37 of the Labour Code. The LRB’s approval is required for the necessary transfer of bar-gaining agent status.

Under the merger agreement, UPN mem-bers will have representation on BCNU’s Mental Health Strategy (MHS) steering committee. Sixteen mental health positions will also be created on BCNU regional executive councils.

RPNs will be encouraged to participate in the regional mental health workshops being held early in 2015. These workshops will gather frontline nursing experience on gaps in mental health services to inform an MHS position paper.

Twenty-five UPN activists and stewards will also receive a five-day BCNU education course. All of BCNU’s ongoing educational opportunities will be open to former UPN members.

UPN was a long-time affiliate of BCNU and the two unions have enjoyed a posi-tive history of bargaining together in the Nurses’ Bargaining Association. update

WHY RPNs ARE STRONGER IN BCNUProfessional development & licensing support • RPNs will receive paid education (as

per BCNU’s policies). RPN’s shifts will be covered, and members’ wages will often be covered to allow attendance.

• BCNU is a learning community focused on advancing your nursing practice through education and workplace support.

Specialists supporting specialists• RPNs are specialists with advanced

training in psychiatry, and that makes them an important resource to the whole nursing team.

• BCNU represents other specialty nurses such as PAR, Intensive Care and Emergency – and BCNU has success-fully negotiated pay premiums for the specialty nurses we support.

Mental Health Strategy• Mental Health is one of the most

important issues in health care. It has not been addressed properly and it affects all of us.

• With RPNs joining us, BCNU will be better able to advance the cause of mental health. It is one of the most serious issues facing our health care system and we will be stronger together advocating at the local and provincial level.

Enhanced safety & violence prevention • Psychiatric nursing can be a dangerous

area of practice. BCNU’s Occupational Health & Safety department is focused on enhancing safety and preventing violence against nurses.

• BCNU’s OH&S Director has worked as an RPN so the unique safety needs of RPNs are well understood at the nurses’ union.

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NURSES AND THEIR co-workers at the Port Coquitlam health unit have been left feeling unnerved after learning in October that

they and their clients had been exposed to asbestos in the workplace for years. Worse is that Fraser Health admits to having been told about the asbestos in 2009, but did not disclose it to workers at the facility and did not take the required steps to remedi-ate the situation.

The nurses claim dust and debris falling from crumbling walls had been an ongoing issue in the health unit since as far back as 2002. Verbal complaints to management resulted in periodic cleaning and patching.

It wasn’t until early October that the current manager took steps to contact the health authority’s Workplace Health department. The building was vacated for

a few days and, after an air quality test was performed and the debris and dust cleared, staff were told it was safe to return. Staff in the unit then received clients for four more days until the materials analysis of the debris revealed that vermiculite insula-tion in the building contained one percent asbestos. Unfortunately, the discovery came too late to prevent staff and clients from being exposed. The facility was closed and the staff relocated to the Newport health

unit in Port Moody, where they continue to provide care to their clients.

Lan Luong is a public health nurse and BCNU OH&S rep who worked at the unit. “Staff here are feeling betrayed because they weren’t informed about a serious health hazard,” she says. “The health unit is a really close-knit group, and now we’re also feeling ethical distress because for years we’ve welcomed our clients to a health centre that potentially put them at risk,” she added.

“The floors are all carpeted and children sometimes played with toys on them,” she recalls. “Janitorial services routinely vacu-umed the dust from those carpets without appropriate equipment and personal pro-tective equipment – none of it should have been allowed to happen.”

Before starting repair work in the health unit, Fraser Health submitted a Notice of Project (NOP) to WorkSafeBC early in October. An NOP is a requirement when asbestos has been identified in a building where renovations or demolition is going to be done.

Concerned, Luong contacted BCNU for further advice. The BCNU OH&S department then contacted WorkSafeBC and stressed its concerns over the high risk situation and urged WorkSafeBC to further investigate the situation, which it did.

Some structures built before 1990 may have used products containing asbestos. There are guidelines in place to ensure safe detection and removal of asbestos before any renovations or demolition of a building can take place.

In accordance with WorkSafeBC regula-tions (6.1 to 6.41), employers must ensure that a qualified person prepares an inven-tory of all asbestos-containing materials in a workplace. This inventory must be kept at the workplace, kept current, and it must identify asbestos-containing areas with the use of signage or other effective means. This ensures there is no disturbance of the asbes-tos, caused by activities such as hammering nails into walls. When asbestos is contained safely it is not a danger. However, when it is released, small fibers become airborne and can be inhaled.

OH&S

ASBESTOS CONCERN SHUTS DOWN PORT COQUITLAM HEALTH UNITSTAFF ARE SHAKEN BY EMPLOYER’S LACK OF DILIGENCE

“The floors are all carpeted and children sometimes played with toys on them.” LAN LUONG

NOT IMPRESSED Fraser health public health nurses Trina St. Germain (l) and Lan Luong worry about the long term health consequences of the asbestos that was found in their workplace in October.


WorkSafeBC has written orders against Fraser Health and has also directed the City of Port Coquitlam to develop an inventory of the asbestos in all of its build-ings, and to provide Fraser Health with the results for all buildings it rents from the city. Presumably, a responsibility will be placed on both parties to ensure that appropriate action is taken as needed. Fraser Health has also submitted a compli-ance plan to WorkSafeBC, as required in response to the orders.

Exposure to asbestos can cause occupa-tional diseases such as asbestosis, asbestos related lung cancer, mesothelioma and pleural thickening. The effects of asbestos exposure can take 10 to 20 years to show up as an occupational disease. All staff working at the unit have registered with WorkSafeBC’s exposure registry in the event that an asbestos-related disease devel-ops in their future.

This unfortunate chain of events has left the nurses at the facility shaken and fearful of the potential health impacts for them and their clients. Luong says that the lack of accountability at all levels will make it very

“The health unit is a really close-knit group, and now we’re feeling ethical distress because for years we’ve welcomed our clients to a health centre that potentially put them at risk.” LAN LUONG

SAFETY – DEMAND IT.

• Know how to report incidents and unsafe situations at your worksite.

• Use your right to refuse unsafe work process when an unsafe situation creates an undue hazard to your health and safety.

• Report all incidents and unsafe situa-tions to your manager or supervisor, even if there is no injury.

• Document using your worksite’s OH&S Hazard and Incident reporting system.

• Tell your worksite steward or BCNU Joint OH&S Committee representa-tive. Make recommendations to cor-rect the problem and improve safety.

• Follow up to find out when recom-mendations will be made.

• File a grievance if the problem isn’t being corrected.

For more information, visit www.worksafebc.com

IT’S YOUR RIGHT.

difficult for staff to think about eventually returning to work in the same building.

BCNU is supporting the nurses. The union has recommended the members see their physicians, document the exposure and keep a file with dates they worked in the unit. The union’s OH&S depart-ment is working closely with the JOHS representatives. It’s helping them work with their JOHS committee to review the orders and the compliance plan to ensure the employer adheres to process and follows up on the requirements. BCNU has also filed a grievance under Article 32 (Safe Workplace) of the NBA provincial contract.

Fraser Health’s aging health care facilities highlight the significant need for infra-structure that meets safety standards and ensures safety of patients and staff. This exposure of health care workers and the public to asbestos over many years shows how important it is that BCNU members file hazard reports when there is poten-tial risk. Reports result in a paper trail and place obligations on management to remediate the situation to follow up and document exactly what’s been done. Fraser Health has a workplace hazards report form that can be accessed on its workplace health intranet site or by contacting its call centre. All employers are required to have a process for reporting haz-ards in the workplace. Members should check with their man-ager and JOHS representative or steward about the hazard reporting procedures at their workplace.

BCNU strongly recom-mends that members con-tact their local steward or JOHS representative about suspected hazards. They in turn will contact the BCNU OH&S department if unsure about a situa-tion. If there’s any doubt, members can also notify WorkSafeBC directly. update

Read more about asbestos exposure

12

MANY OF US ARE AWARE OF current changes in health care delivery, such as Care Delivery Model Redesign (CDMR) that has been introduced on Vancouver Island, and the issues surrounding the effect these changes will have to nursing practice.

After encountering con-flicting views from multiple sources about these care delivery changes, we decided to speak with frontline nurses to gain their perspectives on safe staff ing.

We discovered that those

who were aware of the changes on Vancouver Island had apprehensions about the care model and shared a common fear that CDMR would be implemented in their workplace with similar nega-tive outcomes. These included the fear of being displaced from their jobs or not having the resources to provide safe patient care.

No wonder academic research has shown that a higher number of nurses-to-patients results in a decrease in adverse patient outcomes

and a reduction in nurse burn-out and job dissatisfaction. It also results in tremendously lower health care costs.

As frontline caregivers, nurses must call on employ-ers to provide appropriate nurse-patient assignments in accordance with professional college practice standards.

There are continuous changes within health care. This includes technology, medical and pharmaceutical advances and other changes. And although nurses are able to adapt to new situations,

OPINION CARE DOES REALLY MATTER: NURSES MUST TAKE CHARGE OF CHANGE

NURSING STUDENTS RESEARCH CARE DELIVERY CHALLENGES

CARE MODEL CHANGES

LOOKING AHEAD 4th-year Kwantlen Polytechnic University nursing students (from left), Anastasia Rupprecht, Connie Wong, Diana Henson and Marissa Dionne collaborated on a research project that addressed concerns about care model changes. They encourage nurses to use the professional responsibility form process to voice their concerns.

BCNU MEMBERS on Vancou-ver Island have been vocal and persistent in their efforts to warn nurses across BC about the dangers that care delivery

changes pose for safe patient care. It’s impor-tant for working nurses to have an awareness of these changes. But BCNU South Fraser Valley region members are wasting no time alerting future nurses to the problems as-sociated with new delivery models.

“We do outreach to Kwantlen Polytechnic and Trinity Western – the two nursing schools in our region,” explains South Fraser Valley region co-chair Michelle Sordal. She and region co-chair Jonathan Karmazinuk have made efforts to connect with nursing instructors whom she says are open to encouraging students to explore care delivery model changes as part

they must also be allowed to contribute to changes. Active agents of change inform themselves instead of letting the change happen to them.

Nurses said that when man-agement encouraged them to contribute their opinions surrounding a prevailing issue, they were less hesitant to stand up and say, “yes, this is working,” or, “no, this is not working.”

BCNU has also negotiated a tool that allows nurses to voice our concerns about issues surrounding care delivery in our specif ic area, which may include staff mix and/or safe staff ing. This tool

of their research requirements. “We want to get nurses thinking critically before they are out in the workplace – especially in their last year before they begin practic-ing,” says Sordal.

A group of 4th-year Kwantlen Polytechnic University students recently completed a research assignment on care model changes. Their submission to Update magazine describing their research is printed here.


FORENSIC NURSE EXAMINERS RECEIVE INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION

W HEN BCNU MEMBERS Larena Dodd, Aimee Falkenberg and Tara Wilkie awoke on Nov. 8,

the Fraser Health Authority forensic nurse examiners found themselves on the front page of the Vancouver Sun.

The Sun feature story detailed how the nurses developed Canada’s first online learning module to raise awareness about human trafficking, and to train emergency health care workers to iden-tify and assist patients who may be trafficked.

“The response has been extremely posi-tive,” says Falkenberg of the newspaper article. Wilkie says she’s humbled by the attention. “We’ve been contacted by people around the world, the response has been international.”

“This research is the first of its kind in Canada,” says Dodd, who noted that when the nurses began researching course content, they found that the information available on human traffick-ing wasn’t appropriate for health care providers working in primary care. They also wanted to dispel myths about trafficking. “Even though human trafficking is an international problem, we are predominantly dealing with the trafficking of Canadian citizens,” explains Wilkie.

The nurses believe that health care workers rec-ognize when trafficked persons access health care, and there is an opportunity to identify them and offer options, even if the patient does not initially ask for help. “Health care providers instinctually knew that something wasn’t right prior to the training, but they either didn’t have a name for it, or they didn’t know what to do. They lacked a process,” Falkenberg recalls.

The nurses’ solution involved more than online education. They also created a health authority-wide response component for trafficking or violence, and worked to ensure that health care providers in Burnaby could respond to a patient showing red flags the same way care providers in Hope could.

The team developed checklists to help staff with patient assessments, information on who to involve in referrals and guidelines on how to provide help when they recognize the red flags. “We’ve opened up the window so the patient doesn’t have to say the right words to get to the services that can help them,” explains Dodd.

“This has become much more than just a health care response. This has become a community response, about joining health care with every other sector to make this whole puzzle fit together and result in cohesive healing for those who are experiencing violence and trafficking,” says Wilkie.

All three credit their many partnerships for the program’s success. Dodd cites the city of Surrey’s SMART (Surrey Mobile Assault Response Team) – where a nurse focuses on a woman’s medical and forensic care while a SMART worker assists with helping access social workers, housing and childcare – as a valuable program that allows them to continue helping patients once they walk out the hospital door.

“We’re a small group of nurses, but working to develop a program like this is very empowering,” says Wilkie.

The training is now available to any health care provider in BC employed by a health authority at ccrs.vch.ca (under “Course Search” type: Human Trafficking). update

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RIC ERNST/PNGTara Wilkie, left, Larena Dodd and Aimee Falkenberg are forensic nurse examiners that have developed an online training program that helps front line emergency workers to recognize victims of human traffi cking.

At first, forensic nurse examiners Tara Wilkie, Aimee Falkenberg and Larena Dodd didn’t know exactly what they were seeing in the emergency rooms at Surrey Memorial and Abbotsford Gen-eral hospitals.They knew it was domestic violence and sexual violence. But whether the patients were girls from good families or bad ones, young women working as domestics or young wives, there was something different about them when they walked in or were wheeled into the emergency room.

They were more frightened, more vague about what had happened and how they’d been hurt. Many were on their cell-phones, constantly texting or talking, checking in. Some kept looking over their shoulders or at the door as if expecting someone to burst in. Others couldn’t or wouldn’t be sepa-rated from the person or per-sons who brought them in. In 2007, the trio started talk-ing about the patterns and, over time, came to the somewhat shocking conclusion that what they were dealing with were human trafficking victims. Emergency rooms are one of the few points of contact for victims of human trafficking, often providing the only oppor-tunity for them to talk to some-one about their situation.

Medical detectives collect clues on trafficking victimsHealth: Forensic nurse examiners develop Canada’s fi rst training program

DAPHNEBRAMHAMVANCOUVER SUN

LORI CULBERTVANCOUVER SUN

An online survey to gauge welfare recipients’ satisfac-tion with government services has generated some heated response — from people who couldn’t even fill out the ques-tionnaire because they are too poor to afford the Internet.Some of those respondents asked the Ministry of Social Development and Social Inno-vation to provide them with a printed copy of the survey, but Victoria said it only existed in

electronic form to ensure the information gathered was kept private.“I was outraged to receive, in the mail with my cheque, a request to fill out a survey online. This is insulting,” one person’s hand-written letter to the ministry says.

“You are asking people, that you have just written to, who are on disability pensions, to use the INTERNET to fill out a survey!! WE CAN’T AFFORD THE INTERNET! You, of all people, should know that!”

POVERTY

Online government survey ‘insulting’: welfare recipient

CONTINUED ON A8

CONTINUED ON A11

MATTHEW ROBINSON AND TARA CARMANVANCOUVER SUN

A coroner’s jury looking into the death of Mexican hotel maid Lucia Vega Jimenez is recommending that Canada Border Services Agency staff — not contracted security guards — monitor immigra-tion detainees.Other recommendations include civilian oversight of “critical incidents in CBSA custody” and a dedicated, above-ground holding cen-tre for detainees that features natural light, ventilation and outside access.

Those characteristics are a far cry from the conditions present at the airport’s cur-rent holding centre, which is staffed by Genesis Security.Jurors weighed in with the

verdict late Tuesday, after hearing several days of testi-mony at the inquest into the death. Jimenez hanged her-self in a shower stall at Van-couver International Airport’s immigration holding centre on Dec. 20, 2013 and later died in hospital.Jurors want a dedicated CBSA holding centre for detainees that is staffed by its own employees, located within a 30-minute drive of the airport, and with its own on-site courtroom for immi-gration hearings.

Jurors recommended that “at a minimum,” lawyers must have access to the air-port’s holding centre. It must be fitted with call buttons for help, self-harm proofed, and equipped with telephones.

Inquest jurors want upgraded holding centre, CBSA staffi ngNatural light, ventilation and better access among other recommendations after death of Lucia Vega Jimenez

CONTINUED ON A11

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is called the professional responsibility form (PRF). PRFs have the capacity to promote resolutions to issues regard-ing nursing practice, patient safety, and workload. However, we discovered that many nurs-ing staff fear that using PRFs would be seen as antagonistic by management. While PRFs can sometimes be seen as placing blame, they actually allow the opportunity for cre-ative problem solving between nurses and managers. The fear results from the fact that PRFs are not anonymous. But at the end of the day, our name is attached to those patients we care for, and our name is attached to our licence. When we don’t protect either, we may lose both.

Nurses’ involvement is essential in any transformation or redesign of health care. We are a vital influence on changes that should be benefiting both patients and health care workers. As nurses, we need to be in the driver’s seat of these changes so that we may be able to fulf ill our practice standards, follow our policies accordingly, and ensure safe patient care. As future nurses, we acknowledge that there will be changes to care delivery in hospitals, and we hope to play a role in the decision-making around staff mix and care delivery within our workplace to ensure patient safety and safe staffing.

Marissa DionneDiana HensonAnastasia RupprechtConnie Wong4th-year Kwantlen Polytechnic University nursing students

MEMBERS IN THE MEDIA

COVER STORY The work of Fraser Health forensic nurse examiners Tara Wilkie (l), Larena Dodd and Aimee Falkenberg was recently featured in the Vancouver Sun.

14

BAH! FLU BUG!

THE FESTIVE SEASON IS A time of year most of us look forward to. Still, there are many aspects to the holiday season that aren’t so cheery. The days

are short, and the nights long and dark. Patients are sicker, and there are more of them too. And to make things even drea-rier, flu season – and BC health authorities’ influenza control program – serve to make health care providers’ working conditions that much more difficult.

This year will be the second flu season where it is mandatory for all health care workers delivering patient care in BC to be vaccinated against the flu or wear a mask. And while BCNU recommends that its members receive the vaccine as a preventive measure, the union is extremely disappointed by health employers’ continued promotion of a blanket policy that disregards nurses’ professional autonomy and clinical judgment.

“Nurses and other health care workers should have the right to decide whether to be vaccinated against influenza, based on their understanding of the current evidence and in discussion with their own family physician,” says BCNU President Gayle Duteil.

The employers’ mask requirement is particularly concerning for Duteil. “There’s a direct connection between mask-wearing and the potential for violence in the

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BC’S INFLUENZA CONTROL POLICY

• You must advise your employer whether or not you have been vac-cinated; proof is not needed but you must provide the date and location of your f lu vaccination

• You are not obligated to report a colleague’s non-compliance

• You are not required to wear stick-ers stating your vaccination status

• It is a breach of confidentiality if a member’s immunization record is posted publicly

• If you choose not to be vaccinated, you must follow mask requirements

• If you can’t wear a mask or receive a vaccination for medical reasons, you can seek an accommodation; if you are denied an accommodation, you should f ile a grievance

• If you experience an adverse reaction from the f lu vaccine or from wearing a mask, complete an incident report and f ile a claim with WorkSafeBC

• If wearing a mask interferes with your ability to do your job, (for example, if wearing a mask is fright-ening patients with psychiatric or dementia-related issues) you can ask for an exception to the policy

• If you have inf luenza symptoms, fol-low policies regarding not reporting to work

• BCNU will continue to push for other options, such as reassign-ment, vacation or leaves of absence during f lu season

workplace,” she notes, and asks members to conduct point-of-care risk assessments prior to patient interaction in order to identify any potential for violence. “Stop if a task is unsafe and speak with your manager or supervisor,” she says. “If unresolved, use your right to refuse unsafe work.”

The mask requirement highlights the coer-cive and punitive dimensions of the flu control policy. Last year, members who chose not to be vaccinated reported a loss of privacy and increased scrutiny and judgment.

The policy’s impact on workplace morale comes with a cost that is both unfortunate and unnecessary given the vaccine’s limited effectiveness and need.

There is little evidence to show that the vaccine reduces the risk of health care work-ers giving the flu to their patients during the 24-hour window between their being infected with flu and coming down with symptoms. Yet this is the primary rationale given by employ-ers to justify the policy.

Seasonal flu vaccination is just one element of an infection prevention plan. BCNU will continue to remind employers that flu policies should in no way allow them to ignore more important, proven measures such as adequate staffing, the elimination of hospital over-crowding, rigorous facility cleaning, and the availability of adequate hand-washing stations and supplies. update

Seasonal flu policy impacts winter working conditions

MASKED Health care workers have reported a loss of privacy and increased scrutiny under the seasonal flu policy.


Recent cases highlight the need for robust infection control practices in hospitals across BC

EBOLA VIRUS SCARE

W HEN THE FIRST Ebola patient landed on North American soil in October, the health care system was

woefully unprepared.The hospital in Dallas, Texas where the

patient was treated didn’t have adequate policies and procedures in place, and nurses there hadn’t received the thorough train-ing required to prevent the spread of the disease.

At the time of the patient’s arrival, it was believed that workers’ personal protective equipment was adequate for their safety, but the US Centers for Disease Control has since determined that it was not.

Within days, a nurse who cared for the patient tested positive for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), despite wearing full protec-tive gear. Her case sounded alarm bells around the world, including here in BC.

Nurses on the front line were worried: How could this happen? How could some-one who was fully protected get the Ebola virus?

The overriding concern for BCNU was

simple: If an Ebola patient shows up in BC, would nurses and frontline health care work-ers be safe? Have health authorities planned and prepared for this type of virus? It quickly became apparent that the answer was “no.”

In the days that followed, BCNU issued a 10-point plan to all health authorities in the province demanding they take immedi-ate steps to ensure nurses’ safety in the unlikely event an Ebola patient showed up at a hospital in BC.

While first denying there was a problem, health authorities later agreed to address key concerns raised by BCNU, including the adequate provision of N95 respirator masks, up-to-date training in the donning and doffing of protective gear, and the establishment of clear policies and proce-dures to prevent infection. (See sidebar: Health Officials Respond.)

The threat of Ebola has also highlighted infection control deficiencies that exist in hospitals across the country.

About 250,000 Canadians come down with life-threatening infections while in hospitals every year. That’s the highest rate in the developed world. As many as 12,000 people a year die.

Earlier this year, Fraser Health was forced to launch an aggressive campaign

to contain carbapenem-resistant entero-bacteriaceae (CRE), a potentially deadly bacterium resistant to nearly all antibiotics.

Forty-one patients became infected with CRE in Fraser Health facilities between last summer and the end of 2013. And while no one died as a direct result of the bac-teria, an undisclosed number of patients

died with the bacteria in their systems.

The health author-ity has now

implemented a screening

program which targets patients who have been in hospi-tals outside Canada within

the past six months and

tests them for CRE. But according

to Surrey Memorial Hospital full-time steward

Gail Conlin, appropriate infection control mechanisms are not

working, and she says extra staffing needs to be in place when the hospital is caring for CRE patients.

“Right now, infection control guidelines state that there needs to always be one RN and one LPN specifically caring for patients with CRE – but sometimes, when things get too busy in the ER or a differ-ent unit, one nurse will get pulled off CRE duty,” explains Conlin. “So it increases the workload for the other nurses and decreases safe patient care.”

Conlin also says it’s not uncommon for two patients with different strains of CRE to share the same room, so each is exposed to a new strain and can re-infect the other.

As is the case when caring for an Ebola patient, nurses are required to don and doff protective gear when treating a patient with CRE.

Conlin says frontline nurses need to

“Some frontline nurses receive training, but in order to be proficient, they should be continually trained on an ongoing basis.” GAIL CONLIN

16

ON OCT. 8, THE FIRST EBOLA PATIENT IN North America died. Within a week, two nurses who had cared for him tested positive for Ebola. Suddenly, there were fears the deadly virus could become a health threat in North America.

Canadian Health off icials reassured the pub-lic that it was an unlikely possibility. In BC, Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall claimed hospitals were prepared should an Ebola patient show up in this province.

But nurses were worried and BCNU President Gayle Duteil was hearing troubling stories from frontline staff.

“Nurses were telling me they didn’t have proper protective gear,” says Duteil. “They weren’t being routinely trained in donning and doffing, and if there were policies or procedures in place, they weren’t being operationalized on the front lines.”

Duteil took those concerns to Health Minister Terry Lake and Dr. Kendall. Both assured her that health care staff would be safe and protocols were in place or under review.

Not satisf ied, Duteil sent a letter to the CEOs of every BC health authority in the province on Oct. 14, demanding they implement a 10-point plan to take necessary precautions and provide training to ensure staff and public safety.

In the days that followed, Duteil was interviewed by countless local, regional and national TV and radio stations and newspapers. She appeared live on talk shows and the story was picked up in the US, Mexico, the UK and other foreign media outlets. It also was reported online in various lan-guages, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, Chinese and Korean,

Lake has since responded to some of BCNU’s concerns. Five hospitals have been designated to accept Ebola cases, and training is being provided to ER, ICU and high acuity staff at some of those hospitals, including Surrey Memorial, where Fraser Health is developing a core team of highly trained health care workers who would care for any Ebola-positive patients. The training manuals for low and high risk contact with Ebola patients and personal protective equipment have also been updated.

BCNU continues to monitor progress on imple-mentation of the new safety measures. By press time there were still signif icant gaps in compliance in some health authorities. update

HEALTH OFFICIALS RESPOND TO BCNU DEMANDS FOR NURSES’ EBOLA SAFETY

be comfortable and competent in putting on and taking off protective gear.

“I truly believe infection control should involve constantly training staff for protection against super bugs [like CRE] or Ebola. Some frontline nurses receive training, but in order to be proficient, they should be con-tinually trained on an ongoing basis.”

That kind of sporadic, inconsis-tent training is what’s happening at hospitals across BC. And in an era of cost cutting in health care, the rising cost of hospital acquired infections

(HAIs) cannot be underestimated.A 2007 BC auditor general’s report

estimated the direct costs of HAIs in Canada to be approximately $1 bil-lion annually. Additionally, there are costs borne by home and community care services, as well as by individu-als, patients, and their families.

BCNU Executive Councillor of Health and Safety Will Offley says the contracting out of cleaning ser-

vices is directly related to the rising number of HAIs.

“The standards for housekeepers who have been contracted out are abysmal. They’re overworked, not paid well enough and not trained,” Offley says. “The health authori-ties are trying to cut costs by hiring fewer nurses and contracting out cleaning services, but ultimately, stopping something like a C Difficile outbreak winds up costing the system much more than infection prevention methods.”

Offley says the health authorities could take simple steps to ensure better infection control, such as placing proper liquid soap dispens-ers, paper towels and sinks close to where staff work, so they don’t have to walk across the department to wash their hands.

Patients are also inadvertently causing infection control problems. According to McMaster University researcher Dr. Jocelyn Srigley, patients don’t wash their hands enough during hospital stays.

"This is important because getting patients to wash their hands more could potentially reduce their risk of picking up infections in the hospital," said Srigley.

Her study found that patients washed their hands about 30 percent of the time while in the washroom, 40 percent during meal times, and only three percent of the time when using the kitchens on their units. Hand hygiene rates were also low on entering and leaving their hospital room, at about three percent and seven percent respectively.

Overall, the lack of infection con-trol procedures and training makes many frontline nurses very nervous, especially in the unlikely event they have to treat a patient with Ebola.

“Every nurse I’ve spoken to says they wouldn’t be comfortable looking after a suspected Ebola patient – every single one,” says Conlin. update

“Health authorities are trying to cut costs by hiring fewer nurses and contracting out cleaning services, but ultimately, stopping something like a C Difficile outbreak winds up costing the system much more than infection prevention methods.” BCNU EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (HEALTH AND SAFETY) WILL OFFLEY


EBOLA: AN EPIDEMIC ROOTED IN POVERTY

THE TRAGEDY THAT HAS unfolded in West Africa, and which has gripped many of us to our TV screens and news feeds, has largely been reported through a medical

lens that has focused on the horrific effects of the Ebola virus itself.

And while the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) tragedy in Africa has had health care workers in other parts of the world rightly concerned for their occupational health and safety, in reality, the general public in developed countries have little to fear. The US Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization both agree that there is almost no chance that an outbreak could occur in the US, or in any nation with sufficient medical infrastructure. In fact, in previous outbreaks, infected individuals have returned to their home countries, with no further transmission there.

The larger social and environmental context in which the outbreak of EVD has taken place has often been overlooked in much of the media coverage of the epidemic.

The current EVD outbreak in West Africa is the most deadly in history, with over 14,000 cases and 5,000 deaths having been associated with it to date. According to Declan Butler, a senior reporter for the scientific journal Nature, the current figures dwarf all previous outbreaks. "Since Ebola first appeared in 1976, only 19 outbreaks have had more than 10 victims,” he states. “Only seven other of the few dozen past outbreaks have involved more than 100 cases."

What’s the key difference between the current outbreak and previous ones? The answer is massive, growing poverty and social inequal-ity which is largely the result of the impact of

globalization and structural adjustment policies that have been imposed on West African countries by global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

For example, the flooding of local agricultural markets in West Africa with cheaper European and North American products has resulted in the ongoing displacement of rural populations from arable land and into urban slums.

The combination of urban overcrowding and completely inad-equate health facilities in such urban centres creates a perfect breed-ing ground for EVD and many other illnesses.

According to Bessman Toe, leader of the Montserrado County slum-dweller association in Monrovia, Liberia, in some areas, up to 70,000 residents have

access to only four public toilets connected to a sewage system. The UN estimates that 42 per-cent of the population of Monrovia are "squat-ters," living in crowded makeshift shacks.

In Guinea, there is one doctor per 10,000 people. There are two doctors per 100,000 people in Sierra Leone and only 1.5 per 100,000 in Liberia. Basic health protections, like dispos-able gloves, are simply not available for those few doctors practicing in these countries. And while many doctors have been sickened in this outbreak due to these conditions, their numbers overestimate the size of the health care staff which is trying to contain the infection. EVD may be a deadly disease, but it is certainly not the root cause of these deaths.

Structural poverty is one of the most deadly aspects of this disease. Until we see a world with access to healthy living conditions and quality health care for all, we will continue to witness infectious unnatural disasters. update

BCNU’S OH&S DEPARTMENT 2015 OUTREACH EVENT CALENDARRaising awareness about health and safety concerns in the workplace and engaging members in dialogue about solutions is the number one goal of BCNU’s regional OH&S representatives and stewards.

To this end, 2015 will see a variety of OH&S outreach events at worksites through-out the province. These will include walkabouts, give-aways, information booths, bulletin board displays and presentations to Joint Occupational Health and Safety Committees.

“The right to work in a safe environment is paramount,” says Executive Councillor (OH&S) Will Off ley. “We hope these events will contribute to an increased awareness of the health and safety issues faced by our members.” Offley encourages any member who is interested in participating in an OH&S outreach event, or hosting one at their worksite, to contact their steward or regional OH&S representative.

EVENT DAYS IN 2015

February 25, 2015Anti-bullying Day

February 28, 2015International Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) Awareness Day

April 28, 2015International Day of Mourning for Workers Killed or Injured on the Job

May 3-9, 2015Safety and Health Week

URBAN POVERTY Social inequality and the lack of health care infrastructure is the primary reason for the West African Ebola epidemic.

18

ADVOCATING FOR TRANS-COMPETENT SENIORS’ CARE

MANY OF TODAY’S lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) seniors spent much of their youth

fighting for equality. Now, as more and more of them move into assisted living or residential care facilities, they face a whole new set of challenges.

“There are many seniors in BC who feel like they are being forced back into the closet when they move into seniors’ care,” says BCNU LGBT caucus chair Cynthia Reid. “They once lived open and active lives, but as they age, they now feel vulner-able and unsafe about what the future holds for them.”

Reid says many of the problems cur-rently faced by LGBTQ seniors are outlined in a recently released discussion paper, “Aging Out: Moving towards queer and trans competent care for seniors.” It found that “LGBTQ seniors are deeply concerned about being able to receive queer and trans-com-petent care when mov-ing from independent living to assisted living or residential care.”

The report was prepared by the BC queer resource centre, Qmunity, and supported by a num-ber of community groups and organi-zations, including the Vancouver Foundation, BCNU and other health care unions.

BCNU’s Reid says the problem is becoming more acute as BC’s percent-age of seniors continues to grow. In 2012, the combined seniors’ population in Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health was 365,255, with an estimated LGBTQ popu-lation of at least 26,000.

“That’s why,” says Reid, “it’s so important for the health authorities to take action now. They must immediately implement policies that allow access to appropriate care, and provide staff with appropriate training, so that all seniors can receive the care they deserve.”

The Qmunity report issued two main recommendations aimed at helping “increase inclusion and belonging for LGBTQ seniors residing in or entering” seniors’ care.

The first recommendation calls on the health authorities to train intake and assess-ment administrators to ask questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, and record the information in the free text box.

Reid says the current intake and assess-ment tool doesn’t include questions on sexual orientation or gender identity. “That often means,” she explains, “that many seniors are not being placed in the appropriate facility or provided with the care they deserve.”

Qmunity wants to see those important sexual orientation and gender identity questions added to the current intake and assessment tools, “either as an amendment or as an additional intake process to ensure LGBTQ voices are captured.”

The discussion paper’s second recom-mendation calls for changes to BC’s current first available bed policy, “which does not include LGBTQ competence as criteria to determine appropriate placement . . . at a minimum, facilities should provide regular LGBTQ competency training and have internal policies supporting LGBTQ seniors.”

The report points out that the current absence of inclusive policies and educa-tion leaves LGBTQ seniors “vulnerable to homophobia, heterosexism, and/or trans-phobia from case managers, care providers and other residents.”

Reid wants to see these issues addressed in BC’s nursing schools. “It’s not a part of the current curriculum, and that has to change.”

She is also concerned about who will actually ensure the report’s recommenda-tions are implemented in care facilities across BC. Perhaps, she suggests, it is a job for BC’s senior advocate. Earlier this year, the BC government appointed Isobel Mackenzie as Canada’s first seniors’ advo-cate. Her job description requires her to monitor, review and raise awareness about issues affecting seniors.

“Like many other people in BC,” says Reid, “I have aging friends who right now are feeling fearful of the future. That’s why it’s so important to turn these recommen-dations into reality now.” update

Read the Qmunity report on your mobile device

“I have aging friends who right now are feeling fearful of the future. That’s why it’s so important to turn these recommendations into reality now.” BCNU LGBT CAUCUS CHAIR CYNTHIA REID

QMUNITY

POVERTY REDUCTION

IT’S TIME FOR A POVERTY REDUCTION PLAN

W INTER. It’s a time of year when pov-erty is on our minds. The cold days and long nights

make us ever more thankful for the com-fort of our homes, and more aware of those in our communities who are struggling to pay for their rent or put food on their tables.

So, we support charities and give thanks for whatever good fortune we have had in life.

Every December, food banks, gospel missions and toy bureaus prepare for a seasonal outpouring of goodwill. It’s an expression of community that’s hearten-ing, and gives us hope that, one day, we will find a way to share society’s wealth throughout the year, and consign chronic poverty to the history books.

But it’s clear, even in a country as wealthy as Canada, and in a province as rich as BC, that we have a long way to go before pov-erty is truly a relic of the past.

In its annual BC Child Poverty Report Card, released in November, the First Call child and youth advocacy coalition said 169,240 children in BC – roughly 1 in 5 – were living below the poverty line.

And it’s growing.Last year, the number cited in their report

stood at 153,000 children. This year’s

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

20 SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

BC has no poverty reduction plan

Why does BC need a plan?

1. Despite being one of the wealthiest provinces in the country, 10.7% of the population, (476,000 British Columbians), live in poverty

2. Using the Market Basket Measure, which is a poverty line that reflects the actual cost of living, 16.5% or 735,000 British Columbians live in poverty

3. BC’s child poverty rate at 11.3% is the highest in Canada, and has been the highest for eight out of the last nine years

4. Most poor people are working, and almost half of BC’s poor children live in families where at least one parent has a full-time job

5. In March 2012, nearly 100,000 people in BC used food banks, and almost 30% of them were children

6. We are failing as a province, particularly in relation to health, inequality, housing, crime, and our children

7. Poverty reduction is a sound investment for our province, our communities and our neighbours

For more detailed analysis, visit Canada Without Poverty’s Poverty Progress Profiles at: w w w.c wp-c sp.ca/pover ty/poverty-progress-prof iles/

BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada, yet we are now the only province left with no poverty reduction plan.

report used the latest numbers available from Statistics Canada, which are from 2012.

According to the report, BC’s child poverty rate from 2000–2012 has remained consistently higher than the Canadian average.

If this is the reality despite a recovering economy and expanding business invest-ment, it becomes ever more apparent that we can’t rely on charity alone to achieve the equality and justice we want to see in the world.

Child poverty is just one dimension of the injustice and inequity so many of us face today. There is also the increasingly limited access to welfare, safe and affordable hous-ing, a clean environment, publicly funded health care, education and child care. All of these realities are the result of political decisions and social and economic policy choices. And yet BC is alone in its inaction.

At 10.7 percent, BC has the highest over-all poverty rate in Canada and is the only province in the country without a compre-hensive poverty reduction plan. Every other province has enacted legislation in recent years to tackle poverty and, since 2006, many have made significant progress in lifting large numbers of their citizens above the poverty line.

Much of this progress is the result of pressure from community organizations and unions who understand that ensur-ing a just society is a fundamental role of government.

BCNU’s commitment to justice and equality runs to the heart of the organiza-tion. Nurses know that when socioeco-nomic and environmental conditions improve, population health improves. That’s why health advocacy and political action

is a vital aspect of the work of all health professionals.

“Unions like BCNU play an instrumen-tal role in struggles for social justice and improved community health,” says BCNU Vice President and provincial lobby coordi-nator Christine Sorensen. She, along with lobby coordinators in each of the union’s 16 regions, works to further BCNU’s broader social justice goals.

“Nurses already play an important role in advocating for British Columbians’ health,” says Sorensen. “We’re in the community, schools, addiction centres, on the streets and elsewhere working hard to ‘level the playing field’ so that everyone has access to housing, food, income security and other social determinants of health.” She says that political action makes sense.

“As a union, we support the human rights of our members and all people. And we sup-port initiatives that fight injustice and move our society towards greater equity for all.”

One of those initiatives is the BC Poverty

NO POVERTY REDUCTION

PLAN=

HIGHEST POVERTY RATE


HOMELESSNESS CAN BE FATAL, YET deaths associated with being homeless are largely preventable, according to the f irst ever report examining homeless deaths in British Columbia.

The report, published in November by the non-profit group Megaphone and entitled ‘Dying on the Streets,’ com-piles data provided by the BC Coroners Service between 2006 and 2013. At least 281 homeless people died in British Columbia during that time, a number that is likely signif icantly higher due to gaps in reporting.

The report found that the median age of death for a homeless person in BC is between 40 and 49 years, almost half the life expectancy of 82.65 years of the aver-age British Columbian. In addition, acci-dental deaths accounted for 47 percent of all homeless deaths in the province, more than double the 18.3 percent of deaths among the general population.

“The number of deaths among our homeless population is deeply disturb-ing in part because they are preventable,” says Sean Condon, author of the report and executive director of Megaphone. “Homelessness in this province is equiva-lent to a death sentence, but it doesn’t have to be. All levels of government must

take responsibility to end homelessness, otherwise our most vulnerable citizens will continue to die.”

The total number of homeless deaths in the province is considered an undercount because of several gaps in the way BC Coroners Service tracks the deaths, as highlighted in the report. Its narrow defini-tion of homelessness, for example, does not include vulnerably housed people, those transitioning between housing and living on the street, and those already under hospital care.

It is estimated there are up to 15,500 people who are homeless in British Columbia, which means thousands of people in the province are at risk of prema-ture but preventable death.

DYING ON THE STREETS: NEW REPORT DOCUMENTS PREVENTABLE HOMELESS DEATHS IN BC

HOMELESS

BETTER HOUSING AND POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES ARE NEEDED

HAVE DIED SINCE

2802006

DEATHS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE ARE ACCIDENTAL47 %

11.3%BC’sCHILD

RATEPOVERTY

Dying on the Streets: Homeless deaths in BC Read the report on your mobile device.

HIGHESTIN CANADA ))

Reduction Coalition’s campaign for a poverty-free BC. It’s an initiative that has seen unions, church groups, community organizations and others come together to make a concerted push to get BC to join other provinces and address the unacceptable levels of poverty in its communities.

The BCPRC wants to see a bold and comprehensive poverty reduction plan from the government that would include legislated targets and timelines to significantly reduce poverty and homelessness in the province.

“All levels of government play a role in poverty reduction,” says Sorensen. “But it is at the provincial level where action is most critically needed, and where the most tangible results can be achieved – that’s why we think it’s important for our members to be aware of the coali-tion and its work.”

continued on page 23

22

DO YOU REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU SPENT JUST $21 ON A week’s worth of groceries?

For BCNU North West region lobby coordinator Kathy Buell, her weekly trip to the grocery store became a lot harder to plan when she signed up for this year’s Welfare Food Challenge that took place Oct. 16-22.

The event was organized by Raise the Rates, a coalition of community groups and orga-nizations concerned with the high level of poverty and homelessness in British Columbia. The challenge invites all British Columbians to eat only what they can purchase with the money welfare recipients receive for one week. The goal is to highlight the inadequacy of welfare rates in the province.

According to Raise the Rates, a single person living on welfare currently receives $610 per month. It’s an amount the coalition says needs to be increased in order to keep people from living below the poverty line.

This year, over 100 people took part in the Welfare Food Challenge, including Kathy, her husband and oldest son. She admits the experience opened her eyes to the difficulties people on welfare experience on a daily basis.

WAKE UP CALL BCNU North West region nurses Kathy Buell (r) and Jenny Damstrom. Buell says her participation in this year’s Welfare Food Challenge has given her new insight on the realities faced by the over 130,000 British Columbians currently receiving social assistance.

RAISE THE RATES!North West nurses take part in Welfare Food Challenge


“I decided to take part because I thought it would be a good way to raise awareness on poverty issues that exist in our commu-nity, but to be honest, it was really tough,” admits Buell. “It certainly did make me realize just how hard it is to live on such a limited amount of money. I kept thinking that this is just the groceries – what hap-pens when you factor in the rising cost of living?”

Buell and her family stuck to the chal-lenge for a full five days before finally going over budget. During her first trip to the gro-cery store, Kathy says she realized quickly she would have to get creative in order to stay within the combined family allow-ance of $63. Her grocery list included a few chicken breasts, bananas, and salad. Key items, like fresh fruit and her favourite salad dressings had to take a back seat. The chal-lenge also prevented the family from eating items that were already in the cupboards at home.

And to top it all off, Kathy’s daily coffee run stopped altogether.

“That was the hardest part for me,” she confessed. “I chose not to do the Tim Hortons and Starbucks runs at work but on day five, I caved in and bought a coffee. That was my breaking point.”

According to Raise the Rates, welfare rates in BC were last raised in April 2007 and currently sit at $610 for a single able-bodied person who is looking for work. A single parent with two children receives $1036 per month and a single person with a disability can expect to receive $906 per month. None of these figures factor in inflation.

Although Kathy is grateful for the oppor-tunity, when asked if she’d take part in the challenge again, she can’t answer for sure.

“Would I do it again? I don’t know,” she ponders. “I might try and be a little more prepared next time. I thought it would be easier, but what a wake-up call.”

For more information on the Welfare Food Challenge and Raise the Rates, visit: www.raisetherates.org update


VANCOUVER RESIDENT CAMILLA Lade says it was her experiences of isolation and hardship living as a single mother that led her to take action on the issue of child poverty in BC.

Lade is a co-founder and board member of the newly formed Single Mothers’ Alliance of BC (SMA). The non-profit organization, established this year, receives f inancial support from BCNU. It aims to advocate for, educate, and build a community of single moms.

“BC has the worst child poverty rate in Canada, and 40 percent of the households with children in poverty are headed by single mothers,” says Lade. “It doesn’t seem to be getting better. In fact, it’s getting worse.”

Although it began recently, the SMA is quickly becoming an important voice on social policy issues. This summer the group raised awareness about the

unfairness of the provincial govern-ment’s “claw back” policy for single parents on income assistance who are receiving child support payments.

Lade, who is working toward a mas-ter’s degree in social planning, says the policy effectively takes food, activities and health away from children.

SMA is now conducting a “listening project” in order to hear from single moms and determine the organiza-tion’s priorities. “We want to hear people’s stories to help determine our direction, and we will develop policy positions based on those,” says Lade.

Lade notes that SMA is conduct-ing sessions for single mothers with unionized jobs and those who do shift work.

Women who have been single moth-ers, or are now, can become SMA members on the group’s website. www.singlemothersbc.org

COMMUNITY BUILDERS Single Mothers’ Alliance of BC co-founders (from left) Melissa Beedle, Christina Needham, Viveca Ellis, and Frances Stone. Not pictured: Camilla Lade.

SINGLE MOTHERS’ ALLIANCE OF BC FORMS TO FIGHT CHILD POVERTY

THE ESTIMATED COST OF A COMPREHENSIVE

BILLION

BILLION

PER YEAR

PER YEAR

DOING

Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (2011)

THE ESTIMATED YEARLY COST OF

NOTHING

POVERTY

$3 TO $4

$8 TO $9

REDUCTION PLAN IN BC

To those who question the ability of gov-ernment to fulfill its social role, Sorensen says that enacting just social policies is not only the fair thing to do, it is also the economically smart thing to do.

Governments often balk at the price tag associated with poverty reduction policies. What they often fail to consider, however, is the large amount of resources that we spend paying for the consequences of poverty.

Recent research by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has quantified the costs of inaction, and it has found they

POVERTY REDUCTION PLAN continued from page 21

continued on page 25

24

THE LARGE GROUP gathered at the Carnegie Com-munity Centre in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Oct. 8 was waiting in anticipation

for the results of a contest that has become an annual tradition in the neighborhood. Members of the community were there for the unveiling of the annual “Hope in Shadows” calendar, part of an innovative community engagement project started by Vancouver’s Pivot Legal Society in 2003.

Earlier in the year, Pivot staff distributed over 200 disposable cameras to Downtown Eastside residents and encouraged them to document their own community. As in previous years, 40 photographs were chosen for exhibition, and 12 made it into the Hope in Shadows calendar.

The Hope in Shadows project aims to help create positive interactions between residents from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and people from other neighbour-hoods in the Lower Mainland and beyond. Local residents can sell the calendar on the street through Pivot’s vendor program.

“Hope in Shadows demonstrates that meaningful employment opportunities positively contribute to the well-being and

HEART OF THE CITY PHOTOGRAPHER JENNIFER BROWN

LOOKING PHOTOGRAPHER ALAN DOUGLAS

RAY OF LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER SONIA SAMUELS

IN THE STREAM PHOTOGRAPHER VIOLET BITTERN

HOPE IN SHADOWSPivot legal society’s campaigns challenge poverty and social exclusion

dignity of people impacted by poverty and marginalization,” says project coordinator Carolyn Wong.

Hope in Shadows is just one of many important Pivot projects. Over the past 14 years, the society’s unique legal advocacy campaign model has been successful in challenging laws and policies that under-mine the dignity of those most on the mar-gins or that intensify poverty and social exclusion. Working collaboratively with people impacted by poverty and margin-alization, organization staff and volunteers take a bottom-up approach to law reform.

Pivot campaigns focused on such issues as homelessness, sex workers’ rights, and health and drug policy have made a mean-ingful difference in the lives of marginalized people and have made progress towards lasting systemic change.

“BCNU supports Pivot’s work because there simply aren’t any other community organizations providing the kind of services it does,” says BCNU Treasurer and Human Rights and Equity caucus chair Mabel Tung. “Its combination of legal and political work has been an effective strategy in the fight for social justice.”

Find out more at www.pivotlegal.org


BCNU SOCKS IT TO POVERTY

BCNU’S SECOND annual sock drive is in top gear this year as members around the province gather cloth-ing and other items to help low income folks in their communities

keep warm this winter.

BCNU South Islands region

lobby coordina-tor Jayne Yearwood

coined the initiative’s name last year, after she and others were inspired by Simon Fraser region lobby coordinator’s Maria Huertas’ annual local sock drive.

Yearwood explained that homeless


FACES OF THE COMMUNITY Images captured by Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside residents reflect the resilience and humanity of the city’s most vulnerable population.

GROWTH PHOTOGRAPHER PRISCILLA TAIT

WHAT IS POVERTY?The "poverty line" is different, depending on the family situation. Here's how First Call BC’s most recent report card defines poverty, based on annual income, after tax:• One parent with one child: less than $23,755• Two parents with one child: less than $28,846• One parent with two children: less than $28,846• Two parents with two children: less than $33,936• One parent with three children: less than $33,936• Two parents with three children: less than $40,723

BC is the last province in Canada without a plan to tackle poverty. And we still have the highest poverty rate in the country.

Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall has recently re-introduced Bill M212: The Poverty Reduction and Economic Inclusion Act, which would have the BC government commit to establishing a clear plan, with targets and timelines, to fight poverty in the province.

Join the thousands of British Columbians who have emailed Premier Clark calling for a meaningful poverty reduction plan.

CALL ON PREMIER CLARK TO ENACT THE POVERTY REDUCTION & ECONOMIC INCLUSION ACT!

SCAN OR GO TO SITE: www.bcpovertyreduction.ca/email-the-premier/

people will often wear their socks until they are worn out, or, when they come in to the ER, their socks have grown onto their feet and they have nothing to replace them with.

“This year, at our regional meetings, members were bringing in used cloth-ing, tents, and tarps, and we’re bring-ing them to Our Place,” she says.

Yearwood’s region has established a long-term relationship with Our Place, an inner-city community centre serv-ing Greater Victoria’s most vulnerable: working poor, impoverished elderly, mentally and physically challenged, addicted and the homeless.

“In May our region sponsored a meal at Our Place. We got volunteers and served lunch to 400 people and we also had the BCNU bus there to do outreach on the street.”

BCNU members can contact their regional chair or lobby coordinator to contribute their own region’s efforts.

are so large that they far exceed the costs of poverty reduction. Poverty is consis-tently linked to poor health, lower literacy, poor school performance for children, more crime, and greater stress for family members. It is society as a whole that bears the costs of poverty, through higher public health care costs, increased policing and crime costs, lost productivity, and foregone economic activity.

It is truly unfortunate, then, that there is not greater consensus in the political arena on the need for social policies that distrib-ute wealth more evenly and ensure that everyone can fully participate in society.

POVERTY REDUCTION continued from page 23

Poverty, at its heart, is a question of charity versus justice, says Sorensen. “We give our time and money to charitable organizations that are doing incredibly important work because we care about those less fortunate than ourselves – yet we still live amidst the highest levels of poverty in the country.” She says that, while social change can happen in many ways, it’s the collective expression of com-munity through legislated social policies that are just and progressive that will guarantee an end to poverty.

And the best gift we can give to each other this holiday season is a renewed commitment to supporting the many ongoing struggles for social justice and improved community health. update

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

BARGAININGSAFE

PATIENT CAREUnion members around the

province gathered this fall to prepare for negotiations in the year ahead

for

BCNU is

FOR SAFE PATIENT CAREBARGAINING

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

FORSAFEPATIENT CARE

IDuteil and BCNU Executive Director of Negotiations and Strategic Development Gary Fane travelled the province for two months this fall and met with union members during 13 full-day bargaining education meetings. Joined by other members of the provincial executive, BCNU staff and regional executive members, the goal was to hear first-hand from hundreds of nurses about the challenges they are facing every day in hospi-tals and communities around the province.

“It’s been a real privilege to meet so many members directly and listen to their concerns,” says Duteil, who also had a proposal for those attending the meetings. She called on them, and all BCNU members, to ask ourselves: How do

we provide safe patient care? What resources and support do we require to provide that care? When are we not receiving that support? How is this lack of support negatively affecting BC patients?

Duteil told members that when nurses turn the answers to these questions into stories from the bedside and the community about the difficulties we face every day, we will be positioned to effec-tively bargain on behalf of our patients.

The current NBA provincial contract expired March 31. In the year ahead, BCNU will be at the table across from negotiators from the provincial government, health authorities and the Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC).

The best way to ensure that health employ-

t starts with stories – your stories. That was BC Nurses’ Union President Gayle Duteil’s message to members who gathered this fall to discuss the current round of Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) collective bargaining with the provincial government.

28

ers listen is to tell British Columbians about the risk associated with declining investments in health care and how it will affect them and their families directly.

There’s no question that the cur-rent NBA provincial contract has given nurses a unique opportunity to make a positive difference in our working lives

and for our patients.For the first time, the NBA contract

recognizes and respects nurses’ ability to determine what’s best for patients receiving care on our units and from our programs. We’ve got powerful new rights to address staffing and workload issues negotiated in the last round of bargaining, including new language that gives nurses the right to enforce staffing levels.

There are also specific requirements for the employer to increase baseline staffing and replace nurses on leave.

Nurses agreed to work 1.5 hours longer per week in exchange for these important contract provisions designed to improve workload and promote safe patient care. But over the last two years it has become clear that we have a health employer who is in denial and unwilling to honour the terms of the last collective agreement.

There is also no question that unresolved issues in the current contract have made bargaining a new agreement more difficult. But BCNU members and stewards have been working to ensure that the current NBA contract language is enforced. Many grievances have been filed and more are needed.

BCNU staff provided meeting partici-pants with a report on the status of numer-ous grievances, many of which came out of focused worksite campaigns designed to pressure health employers to honour their side of the bargain.

Arbitration hearings have now been scheduled, and in the coming months deci-sions will be made on numerous contract issues, including the new replacement language and employers’ refusal to consult charge nurses; part-time line hours being

taken away after the move to the 37.5-hour workweek; employers who are still not applying community backfill language to all categories of nurses working in the community; unnecessary displacements stemming from the Enhanced Disability Management Program and other areas.

Duteil acknowledged that it has been hard to get employers to listen, but told meeting participants that nurses’ stories about unsafe practice conditions – through the grievance and PRF process, and through outreach to patients and the public – are the only things that will give them no choice but to respect nurses’ voices.

Island Health’s care delivery model changes are probably the starkest example of a health employer who refuses to listen, and who is not living up to the terms of the current

NBA collective agreement.Contract language designed to safeguard

patient safety and ensure adequate staffing has been turned on its head since Island

Health began dramatically restructuring care delivery at its hospitals in September 2013. Professional nurses are being replaced by unregulated care aides and well over 200,000 annual hours of nursing care have been cut.

The result? Patients are not receiving safe care and some nurses are unable to meet their professional standards because their patient load has doubled.

“This is what health care delivery in BC will look like if BCNU members across the province do not stand up for safe patient care,” Duteil warned bargaining informa-tion meeting participants.

Vancouver Island nurse activists also joined Duteil at many of the information meetings to give members on the mainland a first-hand account of the increasingly precipitous workloads faced by rushed and overworked Island nurses doing their best while understaffed and over-stressed.

BCNU Pacific Rim region chair Jo Salken told her fellow members about the incredible amount of work nurses in her region and other parts of Vancouver Island have done over the last year to hold the employer to account – from filing griev-ances to packing Island Health board meet-ings, to lobbying MLAs and campaigning to warn the public – while using nurses’ stories – that care delivery restructuring is bad for patients and nurses.

Island nurses recently presented the Island Health board with thousands of newly signed petitions demanding an inde-pendent expert review of the care model. More than 25,000 people have signed to date.

Duteil said the Island nurses’ efforts are a model for other nurses in the province who must be ready to stand up and speak out for safe patient care.

W hen the employer is ignoring the evidence, then nurses need to tell our stories and share our experiences.

Indeed, it has been said that “anecdote is the antidote” to employers’ stonewalling.

PATIENCE AND PACING BCNU President Gayle Duteil addresses Coastal Mountain region members in North Vancouver Oct. 28. She said it’s important for BCNU to take advantage of the current bargaining climate to achieve the best deal for nurses and patients.



FAIR WARNING BCNU Pacific Rim region chair Jo Salken shares her members’ experiences with Island Health’s care model changes and warns other nurses of the dangers they pose to patient care.

BARGAINING CONTEXT BCNU Executive Director of Negotiations and Strategic Development Gary Fane outlines the history of BCNU Bargaining for RIVA region members Oct. 2.

MEMBERS’ VOICESWHY DID YOU ATTEND YOUR REGIONAL BARGAINING INFORMATION MEETING?

I wanted to learn more about the collective agreement and what might be coming in the future. As a BCNU member I want to work to improve patient care and working conditions and have a long and productive nursing career.

MARGARET BRYANTLions Gate Hospital

I learned more about the bargaining process, and that the work issues I am facing are similar to those of others in my region. I am so glad to see that our priorities are really aligned, and I’m looking forward to seeing how bargaining progresses.

GULZAR HASSANVancouver General Hospital

I didn’t realize that the workload language in the current collective agreement was not being adhered to. So attending has been really helpful in educating us on what our rights are, and knowing we have the power to enforce them.

YULI JIQUERichmond Hospital

As a steward and OH&S rep, I would like to make sure our nurses are safe in the workplace.

MAGALI KRISCHELions Gate Hospital

But evidence is still at the heart of nurses’ decision making as health care professionals, and meeting participants were reminded about the hard facts that continue to motivate BCNU’s bargaining efforts and inform the contract language nurses’ negotiate on behalf of their patients as well as themselves.

BCNU Director of Communications Systems and Policy Advisor Patricia Wejr briefed members on the over-whelming amount of peer reviewed evidence supporting safe staffing, and noted that over two decades of national and international research has consistently demonstrated a clear relationship between inadequate nurse staffing and poor patient outcomes.

She cited England’s Staffordshire Hospital scandal and resulting com-mission that found inadequate staff-ing levels and too many unregulated care providers resulted in over 1000 unnecessary patient deaths – and said this serves as a dire warning sign BC health employers’ should heed.

She also reported on research

showing that nursing unit productiv-ity utilization levels should target 85 percent to allow for surges in demand for care – anything more will lead to poorer patient care, poorer nurse outcomes and higher costs.

It is clear that hospital mortality and understaffing are linked. Just how this link manifests itself in BC is one of the subjects of a recent BCNU-sponsored University of BC work-load impact study that is currently under way, and that has seen some 2,000 BCNU members participate in surveys and focus groups. A report will be published in early 2015. This will serve as a reflection of BCNU members’ workload and patient care experiences, and will be used to strengthen nurses’ position at the bargaining table.

BCNU is now the sole remaining health sector union yet to bargain a collective agreement with the province. Other

unions, whose provincial contracts also expired in March, were quick WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT

YOUR REGIONAL BARGAINING INFORMATION MEETING?

30

to negotiate five-year agreements last fall, and within a general framework the provincial government wants to impose on all negotiations.

However, Fane told meeting participants about the importance of pacing discus-sions with health employers, and negotiat-ing an agreement that best meets the needs of patients and nurses.

Meeting participants reviewed the NBA’s history of bargaining over the last 15 years and four rounds of contract talks, and it was clear that BCNU members have benefited from an approach that does not follow patterns set by other unions.

Fane acknowledged that the bargain-ing environment is a difficult one. He reminded members about the recent teachers’ strike and lockout, and warned that the provincial government is all too willing to manipulate public opinion if it thinks that will give it an advantage at the bargaining table. He said government negotiators and media relations staff will play fast and loose with numbers and dollar figures taken out of context in an attempt to isolate nurses and undermine our public support.

However both he and Duteil reminded members of the high level of support and respect that nurses receive from the public for the work we do. We need to talk about this work, and our desire for a work envi-

REPORTING BACK BCNU Coastal Mountain region nurses (from left)Marlena Pawlak, Theresa McAusland and Shiva Mehrzad share their bargaining priorities during their Oct. 28 regional meeting in North Vancouver.

SERIOUS CONCERNS RIVA member Marcia Sanford talks about working conditions Oct. 2.

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ronment that allows us to provide the best possible care to our patients.

Nurses are unique, and it benefits the NBA to negotiate a deal that works for nurses, and not to follow the pattern the province has been all too successful in forcing onto other health and public sec-tor workers.

In the meantime, we are making prog-ress by taking a regional focus, and plan to hold small bargaining table discussions with each health authority in addition to the main bargaining table.

Discussions with HEABC and the Northern Health Authority (NHA) began in August, and the talks provided an opportunity to exchange information and focus on issues unique to the north.

BCNU believes that small, regional

Recent research compiled by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions allows nurses in each province to see where they stand in relation to their counterparts in the rest of the country.

BCNU’s salary provisions are in line with those of unions in other provinces, but health employers need to be aware that BC nurses’ salaries must be brought into line with those in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta in order to keep this province competitive.

The cost of living in BC is also a critical factor when comparing salaries here with those in the rest of the country.

Source: CFNU Contract Comparison Document


PROVINCE BY PROVINCEA snapshot of salary and nursing contract provisions across Canada


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SHARING WORKLOAD EXPERIENCES BCNU RIVA region members (from left) Diana Krajic, Mira Bartyska and Malgorzata Rybaltowicz talk about the challenges of delivering safe patient care at the Oct. 2 bargaining education meeting in Burnaby.

MEMBER ENGAGEMENT BCNU President Gayle Duteil takes feedback from Surrey Memorial Hospital nurse Zaahira Surani during the Nov. 14 South Fraser Valley region bargaining information meeting.

tables composed of representatives who have knowledge of issues unique to each region are more effective in moving bar-gaining forward. Depending on the health authority, priority agenda items would include the enforcement of the present col-lective agreement, recruitment and reten-tion issues, specialty training, and scope of practice, skill mix and the harmonization of LPN contract language (in the 2010–2012

Facilities Bargaining Association provincial contract) with the NBA agreement.

Success at the bargaining table depends on the support of every single BCNU member, and their involvement is critical at every stage of the process. Duteil

concluded the bargaining information meetings by reminding participants that BCNU has one clear and simple bargaining message they should share with colleagues, managers, patients and the public, and that’s “Safe Patient Care!”

She encouraged members to go back to their workplaces and continue to file griev-ances and PRFs, engage with new nurses and help their stewards track vacancies.

Most importantly, she called on mem-bers to return to their communities and tell their stories in a way that their audience – patients and the public – will understand.

Nurses are respected and we have the authority to speak out and warn the public about care conditions in our hospitals and in our communities. Friends and neigh-bours need to hear about what it’s like if it’s one of their family members who needs bedside care, but who is suffering as a direct result of health employer policies that make it impossible to safely deliver that care.

There is no question that BCNU is bar-gaining for safe patient care, but our success will depend on your stories about what it takes to make that care a reality. update


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THE NOV. 18 BCNU OKANAGAN SIMILKAMEEN region bargaining information meeting was a special one: it marked the first time that members of UPN sat together with BCNU nurses as members of one union. UPN voted to merge with BCNU on Oct. 30.

“I’m enjoying the meeting and I’m learning a lot. It’s very helpful and informative,” said RPN Natalie Mark. “I was surprised to hear the dis-cussion about the nursing shortage because we certainly are being told about the need for more RPNs,” said RPN Pam Ferguson about health employers not creating the nursing positions necessary for safe patient care.

IT WAS A BUSY COUPLE OF MONTHS FOR THE BCNU COMMUNITY Bargaining Team as they coordinated an ambitious provincial bargaining tour that reached community nurses in regions across the province.

The team scheduled 11 two-hour dinner meetings, inviting home health, pub-lic health and mental health nurses to come together and learn more about their

workplace priorities and the bargaining climate that currently exists.The tour kicked off on Sept. 24 with nurses in the BCNU South Fraser Valley

region and wrapped up on Nov. 26 in the Simon Fraser region. Throughout the two month period, the bargaining tour reached community nurses from Prince George to Vancouver Island and in between.

Leading the effort was BCNU Vice President Christine Sorensen, who says the bargaining tour has provided an opportunity to speak directly to community nurses in many areas of the province and listen to their concerns.

“These meetings aren’t just for us to give information to members – they are happen-ing so we can listen to the concerns coming from community and answer any questions they may have about the current bargaining climate,” she stresses. “At each meeting, we take the opportunity to explain the collective agreement, what our bargaining plans are and what the fight ahead looks like.”

In addition to providing information, BCNU also collected impressive amounts of feed-back from participants through organized breakout sessions which focused on six key issues that affect community nurses, including safety, contracting out, workload/caseload, technol-ogy, CH2/CH3 work, and agency nursing.

Participants were also encouraged to fill out a “Process and Flow” form to explain each client’s pathway through their respective programs, from when they are first referred, to when they are discharged or transferred.

“We are really seeing participants respond well to this opportunity,” says Sorensen. “Each meeting has been a success in a variety of different ways and our team has enjoyed


STRONGER TOGETHER RPNs Natalie Mark (l) and Pam Ferguson were happy to attend the Nov. 18 BCNU Okanagan Similkameen region bargaining information meeting. Both were members of the Union of Psychiatric Nurses until it merged with BCNU on Oct. 30.

COMMUNITY BARGAINING TEAM REACHES OUT TO MEMBERS ACROSS THE PROVINCE

NEW MEMBERS WELCOMED



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I think these meetings are a great way to bring community nurses together. It’s important to come together so we can learn what the issues are and support each other.

KARI SUTER Valley Home Support, Abbotsford

These meetings are important in that they help make us aware of what the real issues are out there. They are also a great networking opportunity. It’s a good environment to learn in – I’ve been a member since 1980 and I know there are a lot of nurses like me who will walk away with a lot of great information.

LENORE SMITHChilliwack General Hospital

These meetings provide a lot of information all at once. We learn what’s new and we are brought together. Many of us don’t have time to see each other so bargaining meetings are, in a way, a networking event. Members should attend these meetings so that BCNU can stand up for their needs.

BEVERLY SIMONAbbotsford Regional General Hospital

taking part in the discussions that have been started along the way. On a personal level, it’s been wonderful to meet so many of our amaz-ing community nurses face-to-face over the last couple of months. As a public health nurse, I can directly relate to the concerns we’re hearing from each group.”

In addition to Sorensen, the community bargaining team involves members from a variety of departments at BCNU. Chief negotiating director Gary Fane, Director of Legal Services Jessica Bowering, labour relations officer Jennifer Mark and South Fraser Valley region co-chair Michelle Sordal have all brought their expertise to the meetings. In addition, the BCNU commu-nications department has played a large role in a variety of outreach and organizing efforts while regional chairs played a large role in collecting registration numbers and getting the word out that the meetings were taking place.

“Back in August, when we discussed the idea of conducting 11 two-hour dinner meetings across this province, we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” says Sorensen. “However, it’s provided a chance to have valuable conversations with our community nurse members. It’s definitely been worth it.” update

COMMUNITY NURSES’ VOICES BCNU held a series of regional information meetings for community nurses to address issues they are facing in their workplaces.

WHY DID YOU ATTEND YOUR REGIONAL BARGAINING INFORMATION MEETING?


34

LEARNING NEW SKILLS BCNU BURSARIES HAVE HELPED LPNs COVER THEIR EDUCATION COSTS

Hospital. “I was born on the same floor that I now work on,” she says. “It's been a wonder-ful place to gain experience as an LPN, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for my colleagues.

“I am now taking the online bridge-in program for LPNs [to become RNs] at the University of Athabasca. The average time to complete this course is three years. I am set to graduate in 2016. My dream is to work as a registered nurse in an emergency or maternity setting. I first learned about the bursaries from an RN I work with. He approached me when he found out I had enrolled in the RN program and I am so thankful he did.”

Forrester says the $3,000 bur-sary she received from BCNU was “extremely generous” and “helped cover the cost of three four-credit courses. I am very thankful to have been chosen.”

Christina Bursey has been delivering care on Vancouver Island since graduating as an LPN in 1996.

“I began working as a casual RPN in the psychiatry unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Comox in September, after graduat-ing from a two-year fast-track program through Stenberg College,” she says.

“I found out about the bursaries through colleagues at work,” adds Bursey. “I was awarded $3,000 from BCNU, which helped me immensely. My program was through a pri-vate college and was extremely costly. When you are the sole person paying all the bills and your entire student loan is eaten up in tuition fees it can be a real

EYES ON THE FUTURE Richmond Hospital LPN Scott Hoodless says he’s grateful for the financial assistance of BCNU in helping him further his training and education.

“It's a helping hand to those who only want to gain knowledge and progress as a member of the health care team.” CHRISTINA BURSEY

IF YOU’VE BEEN HOPING to upgrade your nursing skills – but simply can’t afford the high cost of tuition – applying for a BCNU bursary may help trans-form your dream into reality.

BCNU offers three bur-saries aimed at helping sup-port members to pursue new educational opportunities. All BCNU members are eligible for the Member Education Bursary, student members can apply for the Student Nurse Education Bursary and LPN members can request funds from the LPN Member Education Bursary.

Many LPNs who joined BCNU two years ago have already taken advantage of the bursaries to help cover the costs of furthering their nursing education.

“I was checking out BCNU’s website and was surprised to see that I was eligible to apply for a bursary that would help cover some of the costs of getting my

BSN,” says Richmond Hospital LPN Scott Hoodless.

He plans to finish the pro-gram he began in Jan. 2013 and become a registered nurse by Dec. 2015. “My goal is to end up working as an RN in the OR,” says Hoodless.

“I was super happy to be awarded $3,000 from BCNU,” he adds. “It really shows that BCNU cares about its mem-bers. It would have been dif-ficult financially for me to have paid for the course without the bursary. I would have had to borrow the money to pay for the course.”

Comox nurse Ashley Forrester is currently working as an LPN at St. Joseph’s General


financial struggle.“I am extremely grateful and

appreciative to have received the bursary from BCNU,” says Bursey. “I sincerely hope they can be continued in the future to help others meet their goals and dreams as well.”

Forrester also believes it is important for BCNU to con-tinue helping members pursue their educational dreams.

“Providing the bursaries strengthens our nurses and gives them the opportunity for growth,” she says. “It's a helping hand to those who only want to gain knowledge and progress as a member of the health care team.” update

Want to learn new skills and qualify for new jobs? These three bursaries can help cover some of your education costs while you upgrade your skills, for just one day or over many months:• Member Education Bursary,

for all members, including employed student nurses

• Student Nurse Education Bursary, for student LPNs, RNs and RPNs who are BCNU student members and aren't currently working as employed student nurses

• LPN Member Education Bursary, for LPN members

For more information on bursaries, please visit www.bcnu.org

BURSARY OPPORTUNITIES

CHARITY AT HOME ADOPT-A-STUDENT NURSE INITIATIVE ENCOURAGES NURSES TO SUPPORT THEIR OWN

BCNU WEST KOOTENAY region lobby coordinator Jessie Renzie recalls the conversation she had with a fellow member in Nelson last December.

“I was collecting socks for the union’s “sock it to pov-erty” initiative (see article on page 24) and a younger nurse approached me and said that, while it was good to be doing things to help the homeless, the union should also be think-ing about nurses in poverty.”

Renzie admits she felt somewhat challenged by the proposal. “This nurse told me about her own experience as a single mother studying at Langara College, and said that many student nurses today experience extreme financial hardship. The college actually gives out hampers to students in the winter.”

A seed was planted.Renzie spent this year put-

ting together a proposal for the union to take forward to its regional lobby coordinators, encouraging them to “adopt” a student nurse. She says that finishing nursing school and finding a job is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Studying is expensive and can be a cause of great stress.

Renzie recognizes that each BCNU region is different, and that lobby coordinators and activists will tailor their efforts for their own regions. She says

participating regions can select a nurse, or nurses, to adopt by putting out a call for students to apply confidentially, or they can speak with nursing instruc-tors to help identify a student in need.

Fundraising efforts will then focus on the selected students’ identified needs.

Renzie says the initiative is an investment in union solidar-ity too.

“When we as nurses and a union connect with student nurses, we build a relationship and help show that we, their future union and cohorts, value them.”

She encourages members to contact their regional chair and support a student nurse in their own region this holiday season. update

HELPING THE NEXT GENERATION BCNU West Kootenay region lobby coordinator Jessie Renzie hopes to build relationships with struggling student nurses that will last their career.

THE RISING COST OF EDUCATIONSkyrocketing tuition fees are forcing students to take on more education-related debt than any previous generation, and the prevalence of loan-based f inancial assistance has pushed student debt to historic levels.

STICKER SHOCK

RISING UNIVERSITY TUITIONS

Source: Canadian Federation of Students

36

Your PensionSECURING YOUR FUTURE

LONG-TERM FINANCIAL planning – it’s something even the most disciplined among us have trouble with. Fortunately, BCNU members have their public pension plans to help ensure their post-retirement financial security.

Nevertheless, there is no shortage of increases in the cost-of-living, even in retirement. The cost of benefit premiums – that is medical (MSP), extended health and dental plan coverage – continues to rise for all British Columbians, and post retire-ment group benefits provided through the Municipal and Public Service Pension plans are not immune to these increases. Both plans subsidize the cost of post retirement group ben-efit premium costs to varying degrees, but these subsidies are not guaranteed and can change each year.

The provincial government continues to raise the cost of MSP on an annual basis and this directly increases costs to retirees.

In the spirit of prudent, long-term planning, during

the 2006 Nurses’ Bargaining Association contract negotia-tions, BCNU was successful in negotiating the one percent fund. This contract provision diverted one percent of the 2008 market adjustment wage increase to a fund designed to provide members with protec-tion against future increases to post-retirement benefit costs and decreases to inflation protection.

The program started in 2008, received its first funding in 2009 and has been paying out to retirees since that time. It was formally established as the Retiree Benefit Program and is now governed by the Retiree Benefit Program committee.

“BCNU was looking at increased costs for retirees from a long-term view – we were thinking about all of our members, especially our younger nurses, and how they

DO YOU QUALIFY?Those members retiring from a Nurses' Bargaining Association position who were paying into the fund qualify for the benefit. Eventually the union hopes to negotiate all BCNU members into this program.

To be eligible for this benefit you must meet the following criteria:

1. You must have retired as a member of one of the unions in the Nurses' Bargaining Association under the Provincial Collective Agreement (BCNU, UPN, HSA) and been part of the member-ship component paying into the one percent fund.

2. You must be receiving a pension from either of the following pension plans: MPP, the PSPP or the CBS.

3. For members of the Municipal Pension Plans, you must be paying part or all of the premiums for the Medical Service Plan (MSP) from your own pen-sion to receive a payment.

VISIT THE BCNU WEBSITE TO APPLY TODAY!If you would like to request a paper copy of the application be sent to you, including a complete set of instructions and the eligibility rules, you can contact us by:• PHONE: 604-433-2268, or

toll free 1-800-663-9991• EMAIL: retireebenefit@

bcnu.org. Be sure to include your full name and mailing address.

THE RETIREE BENEFIT PROGRAM AN INVESTMENT IN LONG-TERM SECURITY

might be impacted by the erosions of benefits” says BCNU Executive Councillor (pensions) Deb Ducharme. “We wanted to provide our members with a secure benefit into retirement.”

Since 2009, the program has reimbursed up to 50 percent of the MSP premiums pen-sion plan retirees now have to pay. Twice yearly, enrolled program members receive a cheque from BCNU for $207.78 which reflects 50 percent of MSP premiums no longer covered by public pen-sion plans.

“This unique program helps provide some protection against future benefit cost increases,” says Ducharme, noting that it’s just one more example of what union mem-bers can accomplish together in order to protect themselves in the long term. update


MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23

4:00 pm – 8:00 pm Registration – Regency Foyer

4:45 pm – 5:00 pm Sergeant At Arms, Scrutineers and Ombudsperson meets with Parliamentarian (Balmoral room)

5:00 pm – 6:00 pm New Delegates Information Session (Balmoral room)

5:30 pm – 6:00 pm Delegate Whip Information Meeting (Windsor Room)

6:30 pm – 8:00 pm Meet & Greet

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24

6:30 am – 7:30 am Wellness Workshops

7:30 am – 8:30 am Registration

9:00 am – 9:20 am Year in Review Video

9:20 am – 10:00 am President’s Opening Remarks

10:30 am – 10:35 am Delegate Count

10:35 am – 11:05 am Finance Report

11:05 am – 12:00 pm Executive Director Report

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Operations Report

3:30 pm – 4:55 pm Open Forum

4:55 pm – 5:00 pm Recognition of Retiring Activists

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm Resolutions Committee meeting

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm TBD

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25

6:30 am – 7:30 am Wellness Workshops

8:30 am – 8:45 am Call to Order

8:45 am – 9:00 am Vice President’s Report

9:00 am – 9:15 am Executive Councillor – Pensions Report

9:15 am – 9:30 am Executive Councillor – OH&S Report

10:30 am – 12:00 pm Resolutions & Bylaws

1:30 pm – 3:30 pm Resolutions & Bylaws

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Resolutions & Bylaws

6:30 pm No Host Bar

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Banquet

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26

6:30 am – 7:30 am Wellness Workshop

8:30 am – 8:45 am Call to Order

8:45 am – 9:00 am TBD

9:00 am – 10:30 am TBD

11:00 am – 12:00 pm Report from Caucuses

2:30 pm – 3:30 pm TBD

3:30 pm – 4:45 pm Key-Note Speaker

4:45 pm Closing remarks

5:00 pm Adjournment

February 24, 25, 26, 2015 | Hyatt Regency 655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC | Telephone: 604-683-1234

38

CURRENT WORDING PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Article 3 and Article 7

Article 3 – Officers of the Union…

Add to Article 3

“Effective 2017, no elected officer may hold the same office for more than 2 consecutive terms. An elected officer shall be eligible for election to the same office after a lapse of one term or to a different office immediately.”

…3.07

Effective 2017, no elected officer may hold the same office for more than 2 consecutive terms. An elected officer shall be eligible for election to the same office after a lapse of one term or to a different office immediately.

Article 7 – Term of Regional Council Membership and Vacancies…

Add to Article 7

“Effective 2017, no Regional Council Member may hold the office of Regional Council Member for more than 2 consecutive terms. A Regional Council Member shall be eligible for election to the same office after a lapse of one term or to a different office immediately.”

…7.06

Effective 2017, no Regional Council Member may hold the office of Regional Council Member for more than 2 consecutive terms. A Regional Council Member shall be eligible for election to the same office after a lapse of one term or to a different office immediately.

Moved by: Sharon Sharp Seconded by: Alison StockbroeksBylaws Committee Recommendation: None

Proposed Bylaw amendments for Convention 2015


CURRENT WORDING PROPOSED AMENDMENT IF ADOPTED, WILL READ

Article 4.03(a) and 4.04(j)

Note: Amendments are underlined and former language is crossed out.

4.03

(a) There shall be a Standing Committee on Nominations for the Union (the “Nominations Committee”) comprised of five (5) members elected by the delegates to the Annual conven-tion of the Union in 2011, in 2013, and every three (3) years thereafter. The President shall declare elected to office the five (5) candidates who receive the largest number of votes. Whenever there is but five (5) candidates for these positions, the vote shall be dispensed with and the President shall declare those candidates elected.

To delete ‘five (5) members’ before ‘elected’.

To insert ‘minimum of 3 standing mem-bers and 2 auxiliary members’ before ‘elected’.

To delete ‘in 2011, in 2013, and every (3) years thereafter’ before ‘The’.

To insert ‘the year prior to the Provincial election’ before ‘The’.

To delete ‘five (5) candidates’ before ‘who’.

To insert ‘three (3) standing members and two (2) auxiliary members before ‘who’.

4.03

(a) There shall be a Standing Committee on Nominations for the Union (the “Nominations Committee”) comprised of minimum of 3 standing members and 2 auxiliary members five (5) members elected by delegates to the Annual Convention the year prior to the Provincial election in 2011, in 2013 and every (3) years thereafter. The President shall declare elected to office the three (3) standing members and two (2) auxiliary members five (5) candidates who receive the larg-est number of votes. Whenever there is but five (5) candidates for these positions, the vote shall be dispensed with and the President shall declare those candidates elected.

4.04 The Committee’s duties shall include:

( j) To attend at the Annual Conventions and at the Provincial Bargaining Conferences of the Union as provincially funded observers.

To insert ‘The three (3) standing com-mittee members’ before ‘To’.

4.04 The Committee’s duties shall include:

( j) The three (3) standing commit-tee members to attend at the Annual Conventions and at the Provincial Bargaining Conferences of the Union as provincially funded observers.

Moved by: Democracy Committee Seconded by: Mabel Tung Bylaws Committee Recommendation: None

40

RESOLUTION 1End Raiding

Submitted by: Will OffleyMoved by: Will Offley Seconded by: Helen Roberts

Whereas, Since 2009 BCNU has conducted a series of raids on other unions, creating significant division and resulting in BCNU becoming isolated from our traditional allies in the labour movement and the community;

Whereas, We are faced with a provincial government determined to slash public services and gut the contracts of public sector unions; and

Whereas, Because of this it is absolutely essential that we have the support of other unions and community groups in order to win any improvements to our wages, benefits, staffing and workload;

Resolved, That BCNU end its raiding of psychiatric nurses already members of other unions;

Further resolved, That in future we focus our organizing efforts on signing up nurses who are not members of other unions, and negotiating mergers with other unions through open and democratic processes controlled by their respective memberships; and

Finally resolved, That BCNU immediately make it a priority to seek out every opportunity to repair our relations with other unions and community organizations throughout British Columbia.

RESOLUTION 2Presidential Severance Policy

Submitted by: Will OffleyMoved by: Will Offley Seconded by: Mike Clausing

Whereas, Until June 2014 BCNU policy provided an outgo-ing president a severance package of one (1) week of severance for every two (2) years of service, the same as for every other member of BCNU in the NBA;

Whereas, In June 2014 Council changed that policy so that from now on every outgoing president will receive one (1) month’s salary for every one (1) year of service in office;

Whereas, This change means that future presidents will receive a severance package eight (8) times greater than the package a BCNU member in the NBA is entitled to; and

Whereas, We, the movers of this resolution believe elected officers of BCNU should not receive benefits greater than those received by the members;

Resolved, That this current wording of 5.1.23.1 (12) (which reads “the President shall be paid a severance allowance of one (1) month of pay for every one (1) year of service (to BCNU) while in the office of the President. Additional severance may be negotiated depending on the President’s age, years of service and employability”) be deleted and replaced with the old wording, which reads “the President shall be paid a severance allowance of one (1) week of pay for every two (2) years of service (to BCNU) to a maximum of twenty (20) weeks pay while in the office.”

Resolutions


RESOLUTION 3Bylaws Review

Submitted by: BCNU Council & Bylaw CommitteeMoved by: BCNU Council & Bylaw Committee

Whereas, The BCNU membership has expanded and changed;

Whereas, BCNU operates within an increasingly complex labour relations and health care system;

Whereas, Robert’s Rules of Order say that “In order to give the organization the greatest freedom to act within its object, bylaws should be made no more restrictive nor more detailed in specification than necessary”. (p 568); and

Whereas, The BCNU Constitution and Bylaws have not been reviewed as a whole in many years;

Resolved, That BCNU Convention directs Council to:a) Review the current Constitution and Bylaws

through a process that includes consulting widely with the membership. Such consul-tation may include but not be limited to surveys, focus groups, regional meetings, and convention discussion.

b) Report back to Convention with a proposed revision to the Constitution and Bylaws con-sistent with the following principles:i. Respect for organizational history,

including current constitution and bylaws and strategic plan

ii. BCNU mission and valuesiii. Accurate reflection of BCNU’s diverse

membership and obligationsiv. Best parliamentary practicesv. Accountability to the membershipvi. Responsiveness to changing

circumstancesvii. Procedural fairnessviii. Democratic principles – majority rule

with protection of minority rightsix. Gender neutral language throughout.

WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Email your pictures to [email protected]

Want to let other members know what’s happening in your region? Don’t forget to send us your photos.

42

Q&AHUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY

BCNU’s ABORIGINAL Leadership Circle (ALC) was founded in 2005. It is one of our union’s five equity-seeking caucuses.

Within the circle, members can work towards positive change and advocacy in a num-ber of areas, such as the way professionals provide care to Aboriginal people. The circle also helps members participate in BCNU, from becoming a steward, to attending meetings and convention, to running for top offices.

Since its founding, the ALC has been involved in a number of initiatives, such as the rais-ing of awareness about cultural sensitivity and competence in providing care to Aboriginal people, to enhancing the voice of Aboriginal nurses in the recently established First Nations Health Authority.

In October, several ALC members attended the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada’s (ANAC) two-day conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

BCNU spoke with ALC member and Vancouver General Hospital nurse Rhonda Bennett about the conference and the group’s future plans.UPDATE Who attended the conference?BENNETT It was a diverse mix

AN INTERVIEW WITH ABORIGINAL LEADERSHIP CIRCLE MEMBER RHONDA BENNETT

improve the health of Canada’s indigenous peoples.

From our union there were four ALC members. We were joined by ALC council

liaison Lori Pearson, BCNU Vice President Christine Sorensen and nurse

practitioner Tanya Dick, who serves on the ANAC board as the BC/Alberta director.UPDATE What was the focus of this year’s ANAC conference?

BENNETT The conference

title was “Bridging

Nursing

of people. There were several hundred nurses from across Canada. In addition to First Nations, Inuit and Metis RNs, RPNs and nurse practitio-ners, there were also many non-Native nurses who work in Aboriginal communities and want to improve their practice. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many positive nurses look-ing for ways to


HOW TO CONTACT YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY REPSBCNU Human Rights and Equity Committee Mabel Tung, ChairC 604-328-9346 E [email protected]

Aboriginal Leadership Circle Michelle Martinson, ChairE [email protected] Pearson, Council LiaisonC 250-919-4890E [email protected]

Workers with Disability CaucusKelly Woywitka, ChairE [email protected] Lokken, Council LiaisonC 250-960-8621E [email protected]

LGBT CaucusCynthia Reid, ChairE [email protected] Terrett, Council LiaisonC 604-828-0155E [email protected]

Men in Nursing Group Walter Lumamba, ChairE [email protected] Burkart, Council LiaisonC 250-354-5311E [email protected]

Workers of Colour CaucusJessica Celeste, ChairE [email protected] Tung, Council LiaisonC 604-328-9346E [email protected]

Young Nurses’ NetworkCatherine Clutchey, ChairE [email protected] Karmazinuk, Council LiaisonC 604-312-0826E [email protected]

Knowledge from Research to Practice: Honouring Indigenous Wisdom.”

There was a great list of speakers who have contrib-uted to the advancement, improvement and direc-tion of indigenous health in Canada.

The speakers included Kathy Bird, an RN and Cree/Nakota traditional indig-enous nurse practitioner; former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Ovide Mercredi; elder and residential school survivor Ann Callahan who retired in 1996 after a 38-year nursing career; Ann Sutherland Boal, CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association and CFNU President Linda Silas.UPDATE What stood out to you as the conference’s highlights?BENNETT As a newly gradu-ated RN, I really empathized with many of the educa-tion struggles the speakers described – and that far too many First Nations people still face today.

The conference showed how much work still has to be done, including hon-ouring the culture of First Nations people in the educa-tion and health care systems. For example, acupuncture is now a commonly accepted

treatment, as is acupressure, in British Columbia. We also often see priests and rabbis working in our facilities. But we still experience pushback when it comes to honouring our cultural background. That must change.UPDATE You were elected to the ANAC board as the Education Director. What will you be doing?BENNETT I plan to focus on improving education oppor-tunities in First Nations communities. And I want to work towards ensuring that Aboriginal health issues are included in the curriculum of nursing students. I also want to help develop a mentorship program for nursing students of Aboriginal ancestry. People helped steer me in the right direction through-out my life, and maybe I’ll be able to become a positive mentor for others. UPDATE What is your background?BENNETT I was born and raised in Vancouver, and I’m a member of the Tl’azt’en Nation, which is located in northern BC near Fort St. James. I was an LPN, but recently became an RN. I work in acute and sub-acute medicine at Vancouver General Hospital. I’m currently in the process of

applying for my Masters of Nursing at UBC. I believe we need more First Nations educators.UPDATE What issues are at the top of the ALC’s agenda in 2015?BENNETT The ALC is bring-ing two important resolu-tions to BCNU’s convention in February 2015. We’re going to ask members to sup-port them, and we’re asking BCNU to lobby for their implementation.

The first resolution calls upon the BCNU president and all BCNU members to “lobby the prime minister, MPs and provincial cabi-net to hold an inquiry into the murdered and miss-ing Aboriginal women in Canada.”

The second resolution calls on Canada to become a “sig-natory to the outcome docu-ment adopted by all member states of the United Nations at the first World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.”

I’m upset that Canada was the only country in the United Nations not to vote in favour of adopting the document, which deals with the implementation of the rights of indigenous peoples. That really shows how much work there still is to be done in this country. update

44

PRFsIN THE WORKPLACE

PROTECTING THEIR LICENSES WEST COAST GENERAL HOSPITAL NURSES USED THE PRF PROCESS TO TACKLE ER UNDERSTAFFING

FOR YEARS THE NURSES working in the Emergency Department at Port Alberni’s West Coast General Hospital (WCGH) had to tolerate staff-ing and care conditions that few were comfortable with. So, they filed Professional Responsibility Forms – many forms – in order to get their site manager to take their concerns seriously.

The group’s efforts paid off this summer when Island Health added a new line to the unit. But this was the result of a process that took much longer that anyone anticipated.

“People weren’t getting their breaks because they couldn’t leave their patients,” says BCNU steward Michelle Vigrass, until a fourth RN was finally added to the ER. “It puts the patients at risk if you go on break, so you work right through. But what shape does that leave you in to deliver care?”

Vigrass called the situation typical of the ER working conditions at WCGH. She says the department was chronically understaffed as a result of a poor

staffing mix and rising acuity of patients, and that the three nurses on duty day and night were also expected to cover off ICU breaks and other tasks, often leaving the ER short-staffed during periods of increased demand.

Vigrass attributes many of the staff mix issues to a regionalized staffing model out of Campbell River that assigned too many inexpe-rienced nurses to a unit that was frequently short-staffed. Having too many novice nurses also made many shifts unsafe. While this problem was obvious to staff, manage-ment claimed that, because patient acuity was typically on the lower end of the spectrum, the existing coverage was indeed safe.

That wasn’t good enough for the nurses.

WCGH nurse Cheryl Paxton has 33 years of nursing experience, with 20 of that in the ER. She became the driving force behind a PRF campaign that documented

the safety impacts of staffing and skill mix issues at the hospi-tal. She’s frank when asked why she was persistent to the point of writing up to three PRFs a week: “They left me to work alone in the ER one night,” she recalls. “Finding yourself alone in Emergency is grossly unsafe. There wasn’t even a unit clerk there – it was obscene.”

Paxton saw filing a PRF as the means to safeguard her license. “Nurses need to know it’s our protection,” she says of the PRF process. “It shows we have a problem that’s not being addressed by administration. It tells them, ‘you’re making me work in less than satisfactory circumstances’.”

Vigrass agrees: “If you understand and use the PRF process, basically you are telling management ‘this is a problem.’ That makes it into their prob-lem, because now they’ve been told. It protects the writer and puts it onto them – it protects your license.”

Even though the campaign lapsed for a year when the

local PRF committee ceased to function, the volume of PRFs filed over four years succeeded in convincing the local site manager that there was indeed a problem. The site manager, once on board, also argued continuously for additional resources from Island Health and provided the nurses with the data they needed to help advance their concerns. However, the stock response given to staff was, “but there’s no money.”

So the nurses, and Paxton in particular, kept on filing in the belief it would eventu-ally percolate up to the Senior Review Committee (SRC) composed of a senior repre-sentative chosen by the union and an Island Health designate. And in time, with the help of BCNU staff and the assistance of BCNU steward and Pacific Rim regional executive mem-ber Rachel Kimler, it eventually moved up.

The length of time it took to get the issue to the SRC for a decision shows the importance of following the steps in the process to the letter.

“Over the years I’ve real-ized it’s volumes of PRFs, and hard, fast stats that count,” says Paxton. “They want it in black and white, and then they’ll do something,” she says of the PRF process. “Management is not going to react to one or two.”

To counter management’s comparisons with peer hospi-


BCNU REGIONAL ELECTIONS held province-wide earlier this year saw many new faces running for leadership posi-tions in the union. One of those was the newly named “PRF Advocate” position (one of seven positions on each of BCNU’s 16 regional execu-tives). Last October, recently elected PRF advocates from around BC gathered in Vancouver to strategize and set goals for their regions.

“I’m hoping that we can bridge the disconnect between the union and its members, so that they feel more engaged, and they know that the union is trying to engage and work with them,” said BCNU Thompson North Okanagan region PRF advocate Lance Tifenbach when asked why he ran for the position.

BCNU South Fraser Valley region PRF advocate Catherine Clutchey is also keen to share her experience of the process with members. “I saw a major change in the PRF process around the education of our members – teaching each other in our worksites – and saw the chance for leadership within the region to share my knowledge and belief in the PRF process with other members.”

All PRF advocates have been elected to a three-year term and will serve until the next BCNU provincial election in 2017. update

PRFs WORK BCNU PRF advocates from across BC gather in Vancouver to strategize and share knowledge. Back row – Erin Kachmar, Heather Picklyk, Andrea Rauh, Glenna Lynch, Catherine Clutchey. Middle row – Lance Tifenbach, Danika Ellis (resigned), Cameron Ward, Fiona Dunn (resigned), Jan Young, Ray Hawkes. Front row – Barb Erickson, Pauline Barlow, Judy McGrath, Sara Johl, Laurel Kathlow.

NEW REGIONAL PRF ADVOCATES MEET IN VANCOUVER

tals, Paxton and Vigrass went to work one Mother’s Day and spent eight hours compiling statistics. “We read through three months of charts by hand, and we found that the majority of admissions were 3s, 2s and 1s [higher acuity], not what management was claiming, which is 4s and 5s.”

Armed with facts, their case got stronger. Research also showed that, compared to peer hospitals, WCGH receives on average 22 percent more patient visits per year, yet its ER is staffed with 33 percent fewer staff on days and on nights.

The group’s attention to

detail made all the differ-ence. The SRC recommended adding a fourth RN to the ER between 1100 and 2300 hours, seven days a week. Both Vigrass and Paxton agree that the resulting increase in baseline staffing was a huge victory achieved through the PRF process.

Paxton notes that many times she was told that she didn’t need to keep filing PRFs, but she paid no heed to these appeals. “I realized they [PRFs] are my insurance policy against anything bad happening – they’re a huge amount of work but it got to the point where I felt my

license was being put on the line.”

So when does Paxton advise other nurses to file a PRF? “Do it when you feel the slightest bit unsafe or unable to cope with the acuity.”

“You fight for your patients,” she says. “Well, you have to fight for yourself too.”

“PRFs are the only voice that goes outside the work-place. They’re time consum-ing, but given where we are today, they’re our lifeline.”

“If something chronic has been going on, they’re your protection,” she stresses. “You have to be like a dog with a bone and not let go.” update

46

LEAPLICENSING, EDUCATION, ADVOCACY AND PRACTICE

setting), Twitter feeds, blogs, Craigslist, YouTube, and state-ments made in professional and personal email.

Nurses are savvy profession-als who use social media to not only exchange personal infor-mation, but also to conduct research, and communicate and exchange ideas. But under the Health Professions Act, a regula-tor can deem private off-duty conduct as unprofessional and enforce sanctions on nurses. The increasing use of social media only serves to heighten the professional risks nurses face. And there are ethical considerations when nurses use social media.

What is a nurse to do in this social media age?

First, it’s critical to note that the use of social media to speak about any patient matter, even to defuse after a long day at work, is considered unprofes-sional conduct.

It’s also important to note that the use of social media to degrade the profession, your employer or a patient or group protected under hate laws is unprofessional and will result in negative repercussions.

The ethical considerations nurses face are those dic-tated through their nurs-ing code of ethics, their professional standards, their employer policies

and any relevant legislation such as criminal and human rights law. Most BCNU members are servants of the public, represen-tatives of a profession, represen-tatives of a health authority and agents of an employer. As such, they need to be cognizant that any use of social media is open to public scrutiny.

As a result, nurses must safeguard privacy and confidentiality.

WHAT IS “CONFIDENTIALITY”?Confidentiality speaks to any information learned while pro-viding care for a patient. This information can only be dis-closed to other members of the health care team for health care purposes. Confidential infor-mation should be shared only with the patient’s informed consent, when legally required to or where failure to disclose the information could result in significant harm. Beyond these

very limited exceptions, the nurse’s obligation to safeguard such confidential information is universal.

WHAT IS “PRIVACY”?Privacy relates to the patient’s expectation and right to be treated with dignity and respect. Effective nurse-patient relation-ships are built on trust. The patient needs to be confident that their most personal infor-mation and their basic dignity will be protected by the nurse. Patients will be hesitant to disclose personal information if they fear it will be dissemi-nated beyond those who have a legitimate “need to know.” Any breach of this trust, even inad-vertent, damages the particular nurse-patient relationship and the general trustworthiness of the profession of nursing. Source: National Council of States Board of Nursing: White Paper: A Nurses’ Guide to use of Social Media 2011. update

PROTECT YOUR LICENSE STAYING SAFE IN A SOCIAL MEDIA AGE

REGISTRATION REMINDER! It’s 2015 registration renewal time:• LPNs are to renew by December 31, 2014• RNs/RPNs are to renew (practicing and non-

practicing registration) by February 28, 2015• RNs who currently hold non-practicing

registration status should expect a 10-day processing timeframe if they want to convert their registration to practicing status.

CONNECTIVITY AND belonging is a strong human need. Interpersonal commu-nication is our way of staying connected and feeling included. However, this desire to com-municate can become a danger for nurses when it overrides our duty as professionals.

Over the last few years, BCNU’s Licensing Education Advocacy and Practice Program’s support to members regarding college complaints of unprofessional, unethical con-duct has risen over 300 percent. A number of these complaints stem from members’ use of social media. This includes personal posts on Facebook (even with the highest privacy


Facebook and other social media sites help us stay connected, but some things should never be posted online.Provocative statements about your employer, personal information about patients or discriminatory comments against individuals or groups protected under human rights law are examples of what health professionals shouldn’t post online.

Employers or colleges may try to enforce professional standards if social media postings are inappropriate. And comments on “closed” Facebook groups can be copied and made public.

So stay connected — appropriately

BEFORE YOU POSTTHINK

STAYING SAFE ONLINE

How can nurses achieve that sense of connectivity using social media while remaining professional?• Avoid posting information regarding

your work: the type of service that was provided, the type of shift it was, any negative exchange with the public, your employer, a patient or a colleague

• Avoid posting negative commentary regarding your employer, your health care community, your patient (patient includes the family and community being served)

• Never use negative stereotypes, derogatory language or foul language on social media

• Never post comments regarding a patient on social media, whether posi-tive or negative

• Never use any identif iers regarding patients, community, family, your profession or your employer on social media such as proper names or even vague references such as “bed number XX” or “a XX nurse” or “this XX town”

• Be wary of “liking” posts. You may be held accountable for someone else’s negative statement

• Be aware that even altruistic actions can be seen as unprofessional. Avoid posts that identify your profession, provide health care advice,or that offer recycled or excessive health care equipment/medication. These chari-table acts, if not employer sanctioned, may potentially be considered unpro-fessional. Utilize your College’s Practice Support person to discuss these dilem-mas prior to acting

48

VANCOUVER METROMeghan FriesenChairC [email protected]

COASTAL MOUNTAINKath-Ann TerrettChairC [email protected]

CENTRAL VANCOUVER Judy McGrathCo-chairC [email protected]

Marlene GoertzenCo-chairC [email protected]

SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTSClaudette JutChairC [email protected]

RIVALauren VandergrondenChairC [email protected]

SIMON FRASERLiz IlczaszynCo-chairC [email protected]

Debbie PiccoCo-chairC [email protected]

SOUTH FRASER VALLEYJonathan KarmazinukCo-chairC [email protected]

Michelle Sordal Co-chairC [email protected]

FRASER VALLEYKatherine HamiltonChairC [email protected]

WEST KOOTENAYLorne Burkart ChairC [email protected]

EAST KOOTENAYLori PearsonChairC [email protected]

NORTH WESTSharon SpontonChairC [email protected]

NORTH EASTVeronica (Roni) LokkenChairC [email protected]

OKANAGAN-SIMILKAMEENRhonda CroftChair C [email protected]

THOMPSON NORTH OKANAGANTracy Quewezance Chair C 250-320-8064 [email protected] SOUTH ISLANDSAdriane GearCo-chairC [email protected]

Lynnda Smith Co-chairC [email protected]

PACIFIC RIMJo SalkenChairC [email protected]

CONTACT YOUR STEWARDS For all workplace concerns contact your steward. REGIONAL REPS If your steward can’t help, or for all regional matters, contact your regional rep. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE For all provincial, national or union policy issues, contact your executive committee.

BCNU CAN. Here’s how you can get in touch with the right person to help you.

Who Can Help? BCNU IS HERE TO

SERVE MEMBERS

PRESIDENTGayle DuteilC [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTChristine SorensenC [email protected]

TREASURERMabel TungC [email protected]

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORDeb DucharmeC [email protected]

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORWill OffleyC [email protected]

COMMUNITY BARGAINING ASSOCIATIONRannoch CampbellC [email protected]

INTERIOR HEALTHJanet Elizabeth Van DoornC [email protected]

NORTHERN HEALTHLouise WeightmanC [email protected]

LPN REPS

REGIONAL REPS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

49

GROWING UP ON HER family’s ranch near the rural town of Manyberries, Alberta, Lori Pearson never planned on becoming a nurse or union activist. “In fact,” she says with a laugh, “when I was younger I wanted to be a truck driver or rancher.”

But the newly-elected East Kootenay regional chair changed her mind, and altered the course of her life after taking a unit clerk course at Medicine Hat College.

“I learned, much to my sur-prise, that I really enjoyed it,” she says, “and ended up enrolling in the RN program.”

After graduating from Lethbridge Community College, Pearson launched her nursing career at Kimberley Hospital, located near Cranbrook in the East Kootenays. “I started visit-

PREPARED FOR HER NEW ROLE EAST KOOTENAY CHAIR LORI PEARSON

EMPOWERING MEMBERS “It’s important to help engage members, particu-larly new ones. Once they know their contract rights they begin to stand up for themselves, other nurses and their patients,” says East Kootenay chair Lori Pearson.

QUICK FACTS NAME Lori Pearson. GRADUATED Lethbridge Community College 1995. UNION POSITION East Kootenay chair. WHY I SUPPORT BCNU? Our union does a really good job of being holistic, looking at all aspects of our members’ lives, from the worksite to their homes and their communities.

Council ProfileHERE’S WHO’S WORKING FOR YOU

ing Kimberley in the summer as a kid,” she recalls, “so I was happy to be hired there. It was rural nursing, and we did a bit of everything. It was very much a team effort. I loved it. ”

She became a BCNU activist in 2002, after the BC Liberal government announced it was closing Kimberley’s hospital.

“BCNU organized a news conference in Burnaby and asked me to speak to the media with [former president] Debra McPherson about what the closure meant to our community and how it would affect nurses and patients.

“I was nervous,” she recalls, “but I’ve always been a vocal person, willing to stand up and say what I believe.”

When the hospital finally closed, Pearson began nurs-ing at East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook. “I worked in maternity, taught nursing students at the College of the Rockies and, in 2003, became a steward.” Since then, Pearson has served members as a worksite rep, regional rep and essential services rep. She also worked on the provincial

job action committee and as a regional lobbyist and steward liaison.

After long-time East Kootenay regional chair Patt Shuttleworth retired, members elected Pearson as her replace-ment in 2014. She says the education she received from BCNU over the years – in lead-ership, team building, conflict resolution and the labour rela-tions program – helped prepare her for her new role.

“It’s been exciting so far,” says Pearson. “It’s a real honour to represent the nurses of the East Kootenays.”

Pearson now also serves as chair of BCNU’s training, prevention and assistance fund committee and as council liaison for BCNU’s Aboriginal leader-ship circle (ALC). “I recently attended the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada’s conven-tion with several ALC members and BCNU Vice President Christine Sorensen. It’s very humbling to work with such a wonderful group,” she says.

The ALC is hoping to raise awareness about several issues at the next BCNU convention. One is the growing call demand-ing that the federal government hold an inquiry into the murder and disappearance of Aboriginal women. Another is the push to make Ottawa sign a UN docu-ment that protects the rights of indigenous peoples. “It’s embar-rassing,” she says, “that we’re the only country to not sign it.”

The new chair hopes to increase member involvement in her region. “It’s important to help engage members, par-ticularly new ones. Once they know their contract rights, they begin to stand up for them-selves, other nurses and their patients.” update

50 UPDATE MAGAZINE December 2014

GLOBAL VISION MARJ RATEL WORKS TO ENHANCE THE DELIVERY OF BRAIN AND SPINAL MEDICAL CARE IN GHANA AND WEST AFRICA

Off DutyMEMBERS AFTER HOURS

AS A YOUNG CHILD, MARJ Ratel couldn’t decide if she should be a nurse or a mission-ary when she grew up. As things turned out, she’s been able to fulfil both those callings through her nursing work in West Africa.

Ratel began nursing in 1978 and currently works in the neurological ICU at Vancouver General Hospital.

Little did she know where a chance encounter with a visiting Ghanaian physician training on behalf of the World Health Organization would lead. “Would you ever come to Ghana to train our nurses?” she recalls his asking her while she stood at the nursing station on her shift.

“That’s what I’m supposed to do!” she thought, recalling the moment.

Ratel recruited four nurses, and they began itemizing all that they would need to train neurosurgical nurses in the West African country. “Things we take for granted, beds, canes, and

equipment, they needed it all,” she recalls.

Before the Ghanaian doctor returned home, the nurses made sure his suitcase was packed with care plans and protocols they developed. Afterwards, Ratel kept the momentum going by reaching out to Ghana’s consul-general and speaking to Ghanaian community organiza-tions. “Everyone came together to support us,” she says.

One day Ratel was alerted to a cache of unused medical sup-plies that were going to waste on Vancouver Island. Several impassioned phone calls and a ferry ride later, she was aston-ished to accept what she called a “wall-to-wall sea of supplies” that would be part of her first shipment to Africa.

That was 14 years and 24 jam-packed shipping containers ago.

Fast forward to today, and Ratel now serves as president and founder of the Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation (KBNF), a registered charity with a global reach.

Using her organizational and

networking skills, the nurse has turned KBNF into a major volunteer-based organization that has earned the support and respect of medical profes-sionals from around the globe, all of whom are committed to assisting the organization and its mission to alleviate the suffering of Ghanaians and West Africans affected by injuries and diseases of the brain and spine.

KBNF’s work has expanded beyond the delivery of neuro-surgery equipment. Ratel is now involved in the building of a neurological centre for treatment and rehabilitation of neurosur-gical patients in Ghana. The model she helped develop has transformed how the Ghanaian government plans similar proj-ects in future. She says Ghanaian ministry of health officials were so impressed at how thrifty and sustainable the plan was that they accepted the proposal and asked her to help develop a second hospital right away.

On the horizon are plans to build satellite centres in neighbouring countries,

whose leaders are impressed by the Ghanaian program’s effectiveness.

During Ratel’s most recent trip to West Africa this April, news of the Ebola virus outbreak spread quickly. She traveled to Liberia and witnessed some of the world’s very first attempts to contain the virus, which she describes as “an eye-opener.”

Ratel eventually became involved with the medical intervention and even met with Liberia’s president to discuss how to handle the crisis.

After returning to BC she immediately went back to making calls and asking for help. Doctors she worked with reported that in one county in Liberia, 80 percent of the local health care workers died after contracting the Ebola virus. Meanwhile, patients languished on mattresses on the floor, on cement or even on dirt.

Ratel took action. “We located hundreds of beds, and a cruise-liner donated 75 lounge chairs. At least it gets patients off the ground, we didn’t want nurses caring for patients on the floor,” she says.

Ratel says that any donations and supplies they receive will go into the next shipping container being coordinated. She also welcomes donations of clothes since patients’ contaminated clothes are burned as part of treatment protocols. Donations of stretchers, wheelchairs and beds are also needed, as are sheets, pillowcases and gowns.

To find out more about KBNF’s work, visit: www.kbnf.org update

MODEL OF SUCCESS Vancouver ICU nurse Marj Ratel (c) established a global charity that’s bringing critical supplies and support to health care workers in West Africa.

BRINGING NURSES TOGETHER

Strong stewards

Support for specialized practices

Strengthening RPNs’ voice

Standing up for mental health

That’s why BCNU is uniting nurses

Learn more at BCNURPN.org

RPNs Rhonda and Joseff switched to BCNU in 2012.

STRONGER TOGETHERRPNs + BCNU

PM 40834030

Lorne BurkartRhonda CroftDeb DucharmeGayle DuteilMeghan FriesenAdriane GearMarlene GoertzenKatherine HamiltonLiz IlczaszynJonathan KarmazinukVeronica (Roni) LokkenJudy McGrathWill OffleyLori PearsonTracy QuewezanceJo SalkenLynnda SmithMichelle SordalChristine SorensenSharon SpontonKath-Ann TerrettMabel TungJanet Elizabeth Van DoornLauren VandergrondenLouise Weightman

Not picturedClaudette JutDebbie Picco

From Your BCNU Council (named in alphabetical order)

Lorne BurkartRhonda CroftDeb DucharmeGayle DuteilMeghan FriesenAdriane GearMarlene GoertzenKatherine HamiltonLiz IlczaszynJonathan KarmazinukVeronica (Roni) LokkenJudy McGrathWill OffleyLori PearsonTracy QuewezanceJo SalkenLynnda SmithMichelle SordalChristine SorensenSharon SpontonKath-Ann TerrettMabel TungJanet Elizabeth Van DoornLauren VandergrondenLouise Weightman

Not picturedClaudette JutDebbie Picco

From Your BCNU Council (named in alphabetical order)

Documents

BCNU Update Magazine December 2014