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By Daniela Ginta

The way I see it

GINTA: We have nothing if we don’t have transparency

Feb 16, 2021 | 10:23 AM

I WAS ABOUT TO TELL YOU about this awe-inspiring documentary called ‘Wild Canadian Weather’ you can find on CBC. It’s a perfect reminder of beauty and wonder and why we need to care for nature. My youngest used to watch the Planet Earth series when he was in early elementary school, and he would talk about it for hours, eyes sparkling with joy.

I could tell you more about that, but you see, around the same time in his young life, he also struggled with recurrent asthma attacks. A particularly awful one had us call emergency crews and we spent a long night in the hospital.

Among many scary details surrounding us there was this gentleness coming from every nurse that cared for him during that time – their smiles, the encouragements, the soft-spoken reassurances that he will be ok.

I have a soft spot for nurses. I had one hold my hand while in labour with my firstborn. Everything she could do to make it a bit better for me during that long-drawn pain-infused time, she did. Next shift nurse did the same – warm, gentle, and patient. Four years later, we welcomed our second baby and the same happened.

When my husband got injured badly a few years ago, he had nothing but good things to say about nurses. The nurse that got him ready for his surgery talked to him about some exquisite hiking trails near Williams Lake to help keep his mind focused on something else than excruciating pain.

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Since the pandemic started, it’s been nothing but gratefulness for our frontline healthcare workers. The 7pm pots-and-pans, the messages outside RIH, the many, too many to count ‘thank you’ messages on social media. And it’s not done yet, as people in the community want to keep gratefulness alive.

But then, there’s the other side of the story, an upsetting and undeservedly heavy one at that, which was recently brought to light by the sad circumstances of the large outbreak at RIH. According to the B.C. Nurses Union, frontline nursing staff are overworked and their access to PPE is limited, which has added more stress to a situation already dire.

Nurses have families to go home to and lives to attend to like we all do. Imagine doing that while knowing that though asymptomatic, they might have contracted COVID-19 and are spreading it. Imagine that these concerns are met with what could be interpreted as a polite shrug by the health authorities.

That’s very bad, but it’s not the worst of it. Over the weekend I came across an upsetting piece that described the situation in the hospital from the nurses’ perspective. That nurses must maintain anonymity while talking about these issues is concerning. It’s not a first either – nurses had to speak up anonymously when parking concerns were raised back in the fall.

How on earth is that ever acceptable? These are the people our medical system depends on to do the hard work that many of us don’t have a clue about. The issue is not that problems occur – they do so under any circumstance and in all workplaces, even with the best-intentioned employer trying to make things right. When problems happen, people speak up and describe the issue and then solutions are found. Some may not be found right away, but there is no place for intimidation of workers over speaking up at any point during this process.

These are not overblown concerns either: nurses having to attend to up to 11 patients as one described; having to extend a shift to 16 hours, or work in units they are not familiar with; worst of all, feeling abandoned as these issues surface.

Lack of transparency is bad enough but adding intimidation and fear is unacceptable. What affects nurses will ultimately affect patients, and that is reflected in the kind of care we can expect during those most vulnerable of times.

I am hoping to see a better next chapter in this story. I want to naively believe that it was the pandemic stress that caused some of this, that perhaps those in a position to act and change things for the better will do so.

Health authorities may be publicly expressing appreciation for the work being done by frontline nursing staff is but those are ultimately empty words if on the other hand they are not allowing nurses to speak up about serious concerns.

Transparency and honesty is what we need in any relationship, and that includes the one between employee and employer. Our frontline healthcare workers deserve it.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.