The Registered Nurses Union held a rally over the lunch hour to launch its new campaign “Beyond Broken,” which focuses on their calls for better health care in the province.
The new campaign depicts what the Union calls the “dire state of health care” in the province and the “urgent need for change.”
President Yvette Coffey says the situation for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners is critical, noting that hospitals are over capacity, patients are going without critical care in the community, long term care beds are sitting empty because of a lack of staff, and the backlog of surgeries continues to build.
It is thunderous inside the CLB Armoury for the @RNU_NL rally @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/eAv6wZKs4M
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) October 26, 2022
The union states that there are currently over 600 vacant nursing positions in the province, and research released by the union last week states that 40 per cent of RNs plan to leave the profession if conditions don’t improve.
Further, they say that in 2021-2022 RN overtime and sick leave cost taxpayers $60 million—a 20 per cent year over year increase. Included in that is 400,000 hours of RN overtime, 100,000 more hours than the year before.
Coffey says the healthcare system is broken, but “it’s not beyond repair.” She stresses that government must act now to stabilize nursing and protect patient care before it’s too late.
President Yvette Coffey's voice cracks as she says "I don't know how you do it" @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/ZBw9GnSEHh
— Richard Duggan (@RDugganVOCM) October 26, 2022
She is encouraging all residents to join them and raise their voices about the healthcare situation.
The emotion inside the CLB Armoury was palpable during the rally, with two Registered Nurses who are in the field right now taking to the podium.
One of those was Nurse Practitioner Derrick Walsh, who described the conditions many in the field are facing.
He says he wishes he didn’t have to see registered nurses that are overworked, understaffed, and overwhelmed feel guilty about going home because they know what the next crew coming in is going to face. As well, he wishes he didn’t have to see tears in nurses’ eyes when leaving, ending that “nurses deserve better.”