If it walks like a crisis, talks like a crisis, it very well may be a crisis

Rosetown

Kindersley

2 more names to add to the growing list of communities in Saskatchewan who aren’t benefiting from the 228 doctors the government of the day says are saying have come to Saskatchewan over the past 4 years.

An average of 57 doctors per year have come into the province but how many have retired or left for other opportunities?

Something just doesn’t make sense here.

This dog is wondering just what the government is trying to do.

Either they have a plan or they don’t.

Based on comments made in the Legislature by the current Health Minister, Don McMorris, this may actually be the case. Rather than setting out his plan, he asked Judy Junor (the NDP health critic) what her plan is (video).

Serious questions need to be asked of provincial representatives before we add more names to the growing list of hospitals that are “temporarily” being closed.

Bullied Dogs

Cypress Health Region

It would seem that the employer is playing the same old tricks once again.

A report from one of our members came in the other day and they wanted to share this account with you:

“One morning back in February of 2011, a co-worker of mine was in the staff change room getting ready to start their day.

She had been injured on the job had been forced to come in to work with her arm in a sling.

In pain and still waiting for surgery, she asked me if I would tie her shoes.

Of course I tied them for her! I asked her why they are making her come in if you can’t even tie your own shoes?

How humiliating for my co-worker to have to ask for help to tie her shoes. This co-worker is totally being bullied and belittled by the employer over and over again and all because of a workplace injury.

Needless to say this was a difficult start for her work day at the facility.“

Don’t you get more out of a person if you treat them with dignity and respect?

If a dog barks at the legislature, does Minister McMorris hear it?

From Wakaw to Regina

Community members from Wakaw took their campaign to keep their hospital open to the Legislature on May 17, 2011.

They had a chance to see our Saskatchewan MLAs in action, or is that inaction?

The watch dog is wondering whether anybody is really listening.

Here’s what some of the residents of Wakaw and area had to say:

“You know, since the hospital hasn’t been operating, you see houses on every street for sale in Wakaw. (When asked why), the first thing they say is well we have no hospital.”

“We moved (from Regina) to Wakaw because there was a hospital and there were doctors there.”

“We did make a lot of noise out there – it’s the squeaky wheel that will get the grease.”

“We’ve worked really hard to get attention and I think this really helped.”

“It’s the jobs, it’s our hospital, it’s about everybody.”

Is the Government of the day listening?

One person remarked that they saw Brad Wall was texting during session, people walking in and out and that they seemed to have “no respect for each other.”

One thing we do know for sure is that the media is listening and that’s important because this could happen to any rural community in Saskatchewan.

Star Phoenix - Gov't does not want Wakaw hospital closed: McMorris

Leader Post - Residents demand doctors, say 'nothing has happened'

News Talk 650: Wakaw residents protest their hospital closure at Saskatchewan Legislature

Global Saskatoon: Wakaw Story Video Clip

Celebrate EMS Week

SEIU-West is proud to recog

nize all of our Emergency Medical Services members.

They provide critical and indispensable services to our Saskatchewan’s health care sector.

Please, when you see those flashing lights in your rearview mirror, move safely to the side of the road to let them pass.

Fetch Is a Two Party sport, right?

SAHO & Regional Health Authorities

A special message from MRT - Specialty group & SEIU-West

We want to make patients aware that the resources required to meet the real demands of the health system are not in place.

Once again, there are a group employed as MRT Specialty bringing to light that the demand of their profession is not being met. 
Recently there were two jobs posted for CT positions at Saskatoon City Hospital. To our knowledge there were only 2 applicants - neither of which met the qualifications (one is in the process of taking the required Computed Tomography course, but has not written the examination as of yet).

The next step is to post the vacancy on the CAMRT (across Canada) website.

If this is anything like the recent St. Paul's Hospital experience in filling Angio Tech positions, this may take months.

Months of crushing workloads and constant overtime - in order to get the necessary diagnostic testing done for their patients.

Presently, there are 46 of the MRT Specialty positions in our 4 affiliated Regional Health Authorities, and not all are filled.  Pay equity for 46 additional employees would have been proactive.  The health regions could now be providing a safe work environment with well less overtime with a view to avoiding potential mistakes.

When asked about wage adjustments and the recruitment and retention issues, the response from SAHO was:

Your wage is 'competitive' within the Western Canadian region.  We don't see any potential problem in filling vacancies.  Therefore, you do not qualify for a market adjustment based on retention & recruitment issues.
What did the Health Regions have to say?

We recognize that MRT Specialty positions are difficult to fill. As of December 09, we had three vacancies on our regional hard to recruit list. For the most part, when we are not able to find qualified applicants, we've been hiring trainees from the MRT group on a conditional basis in order to meet our operational needs.
However, there are fewer trainees coming forward as a result of the SAHO final offer which did not acknowledge the critical Retention & Recruitment issues in the MRT Specialty classification, or the whole family of MRT's.

It only offered a market adjustment to specific members of the MRT classification.

It would be worth it for your health, right?

Still no full-time solution...

Cypress Health Region

They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

Well this must be madness because the same types of job postings are being posted to address the continual short-staffing issues existing in the Cypress Health Region.

Cypress Health Region Job Postings for May 10, 2011

1 - F/T SCA

1 - Temp/FT Office Admin

2 - Temp P/T Home Care Aide

1 - Temp P/T Rec Worker

1 - Temp P/T MSW

1 - Temp P/T Health Records Clerk

Total of 7 postings – 1 Permanent Full-Time and all the rest are Part-Time and /or Temporary.

The watch dog wonders why there aren’t more full-time positions being posted?

What would you do to attract new staff?

Running Off-Leash Working Short

Somewhere in a Health Region in Saskatchewan

One of our members reports that they recently worked 3 evening shifts over the course of a weekend and of those 3 shifts, they worked 2 of them short – the first one for a 4 hour period and the next for an 8 hour period.

12 hours over 72 hours may not seem like much but that is the equivalent of a full waking day for residents who rely on these staff people for their day-to-day needs.

But if you think about minimum hours of care for a person who has intensive needs, which is 2 hours per day/person, this adds up to 6 people potentially not receiving the appropriate amount of care every time that there are 12 hours worked short.

At minimum standards of care for less intensive needs, which are 45 minutes/per day/ person, we are looking at approximately up to 26 people in a 12 hour span that aren’t getting the assistance they need.

This is not fair to the residents who rely on the appropriate level of care that they need.

It puts pressure on staff to make things happen quickly and tires them out.

To add further stress to the issue, managers aren’t granting summer holidays if there are already 2 people off because they don’t want to run short.

Spring Evaluation on Government garners “F”

Dundurn, SK

In light of our recent training event, this watch dog would like to share the grades that our members recently gave our provincial government on 9 different areas of their responsibility.

Comments include:

Refuses to share – fair royalty for the benefit of the people of Saskatchewan i.e. Natural Resources such as potash.

Lack of attention to detail – costs continue to rise exponentially (housing, utilities, food, gas, tuition) and too many are not receiving any share of the economic boom.

Lacks integrity/honesty – transparency in agreements such as Amicus & sales of crowns and other agencies such as SCN: not good deals for anyone.

Bullying – mistreatment and disrespect for all workers, particularly public sector.

Doesn’t listen well – health care workers plight continues to go unnoticed even when unsafe staffing is continuously highlighted.

Not shy about playing favourites  –  corporate hand-outs such as royalty freezes and tax cuts continue to be prevalent.

Doesn’t play well with workers (& their families) – everyone should have the right to fair wages, affordable education & equal opportunity.

Lack of respect for teachers and students – failure to value quality public education & ensure adequate resources are placed there.

So What kind of grad would you give the government?

My Way or the Highway?

Cypress Health Region

Sadly the exodus from health care facilities is continuing.

Staff don’t want to leave but feel pressure to do so because they keep getting told to move on with their lives, or leave if you don’t like it.

At Palliser Regional Care Centre, the employer recently undertook a focus survey to better understand the problems…this was the POW focus survey.  The staff were thinking that POW was short for ‘Patronize Our Workers’.

But now managers are just giving up.  They obviously did not like to hear the comments made by the staff in the survey process. Now Cypress is getting people from out of province in to solve our problems?  They are called the CREW.

We’ve already told them part of the solution but they don’t want to listen. 

Do they not realize that staff turn-over has a profound effect on the people who rely on the care SEIU-West members provide?

Not to mention the effect it has on our members?  How can work and care be safe when we are constantly under-staffed?