SEIU-West Watch Dog Blog

Accountable to whom? (Sick Time Revisited)

2011-11-24T09:57:00.001-06:00

Saskatoon Health Region

Canwe say enough about the alleged sick-time abuse brought forward by TheSaskatoon Health Region?

Overthe last year, SHR would have us believe that each and every employee is or hasbeen an abuser of sick time. Recently the clause "Good AttendanceRequired" has been added as a job requirement for internal postings.Although the concept may be well intended by management, it cannot exist in aseniority based system.

Ratherthan target the "abusers" the health region has blanketed allemployees under the same veil. The current collective agreement defines sickleave as:(24.01) The period of time an employee is absent from work byvirtue of being sick or disabled or because of an accident not coveredby Workers' compensation.

Subsequently,under (4.01) Non Discrimination: The Employer and the Union agreethat there shall be no discrimination, interference, restriction, coercion,exercised or practiced with respect to any employee in the matter of hiring,wage rates, training, upgrading, promotion, transfer, layoff, recall,discipline, classification, discharge, or otherwise by reason of age, race,creed, colour, national origin, disability (subject to bona fideoccupational requirements), political or religious affiliation, sex, sexualorientation, marital status, family status, place of residence, nor by reasonof membership or activity in the union.

OnDecember 17-2010, SHR released a Region Wide Attendance Policy, in which attendanceis calculated on a peer group average. Peer Group Average: Is abenchmark measure to which employees are compared. Peer Group Averageabsenteeism is calculated by taking all of of the paid sick time hours ofemployees in a particular union and dividing by the number of full timeequivalent employees in that union. Peer Group Average rates can be describedas a number of hours(for full time employees only) or as a percentage of hours(which applies to full time, part time, and casual employees). Seems prettystraight forward right? Wrong! Based on this calculation a full-time employee's sick time average fluctuates regardless of whether the employee has used sicktime or not. Senior Employees are being denied positions because their PeerGroup Average sick time is too high, this is not an acceptable answer as thecalculation used to determine your average is based on a total sick time usagewithin the region, then divided by full time or full time equivalent employeesonly.

Witha Peer Group Average which hasn't fluctuated more than half a percentage pointsince it's inception, one begins to wonder if the calculations are true, or ismanagement playing the numbers to make themselves look good?
Ina system which allows employees to improve their position by seniority, thesystem implemented by SAHO is demeaning and screams discrimination.

TheHuman Rights (Of Saskatchewan) code states that It's against the law forsomeone to discriminate against you in Employment or Occupations.
Thedictionary describes Occupation as: a person's usual or principal work or business, especially as ameans of earning a living; vocation.

Thevery idea that management is playing your private numbers ( as it pertains tosick time) should remain private. Requesting sick notes (when you are off sick)is ok sure, all sick notes are standard "Jane Smith was absent from workon Dec.5 Due to medical reasons" The attendance reviews conducted bymanagement are impeding on your right to privacy. Under The Privacy Act of Saskatchewan, section 2subsection (d) states: use of letters, diaries or other personal documents of aperson; without the consent, expressed or implied, ofthe person or some other person who has the lawful authority to give the consentis prima facie evidence of a violation of the privacy of the person first mentioned.

IfManagement insists on denying job postings due to sick time, it may prepareitself for multiple discrimination cases.
MartinBeen
　
　
Protection Under The Human Right Code

Where am I Protected?

It’sagainst the law for someone to discriminate against you in:

employment or occupations
education
housing
publications
public services (restaurants, stores,hotels, governmentservices, etc.)
contracts or purchase of property
professional associations or trade unions.

KISS Principle

2011-07-22T16:38:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region

CHR management has come up with yet another way to add to the stress of workers who need to call in sick or because of unforeseen situations.

Instead of following established guidelines, some managers demand their staff, while off work, spend their own time dealing with notification matters usually handled by employees actually at work.

Tell this dog why you would insist on employees, off sick or for emergencies, duplicate their efforts by calling not one person but two, and then, to add insult to injury, refuse to provide earned benefits, simply because the managers didn't directly receive their own personalized copy of a detailed message from the employee as to why they are away?

It's another example of the larger problem. By consistently failing to invest in any thought before acting, management will continue to waste valuable time, human and monetary resources in their efforts to back track and cover up, and will ultimately pay an unnecessary penalty, simply because they can't follow the rules.

Employer policies are supposed to be designed for patient and resident safety, and efficient operations. Can someone explain to this dog how stressing out health care employees help patients, residents or the organization?

This dog can’t help but shake its head…

2011-07-14T11:07:00.001-06:00

Cypress Regional Hospital – Cypress Health Region

As it turns out, the Lab at the hospital was closed down shortly after our eyewitness was able to get their blood drawn on Monday.

If only there was a solution…

Oh but there is.

Hire people full-time permanent. Value your employees – don’t undercut and disrespect them.

Allow them the opportunity to work a stable, certain schedule where they can balance work life and family life.

Permanent employment means a lot to a person.

So does respect for their contribution.

This means they can pay their bills, feed their kids and maybe, just maybe save some money for a vacation or maybe even retirement…

To keep facilities open, we must retain good people.

Proudly Announcing: Another Temporary Fix...

2011-07-13T09:47:00.001-06:00

Cypress Regional Hospital - Cypress Health Region

Patients wanting to have blood drawn at the Cypress Regional Hospital will likely have to wait a while.

One patient in particular shared her story with the Watch Dog.

Knowing that it can take a bit of time at the lab, she went early to beat the rush.

To her surprise at 7:45 am, there was a massive line up for blood work and only 2 staff in the Lab area.

She decided that maybe coming back during her coffee break would be a better idea...given the wait time.

When she made her way back at 10:30 am, there were signs up saying "WORKING SHORT".

Apparently, those signs work much like mosquito repellent because there was no one there and she was able to get her blood work done.

You would think that there would be a desire to hire full-time permanent staff so this wouldn't be an issue anymore right?

Apparently not.

Of the most recent 10 job postings for Cypress Health Region only 2 permanent positions (1 full-time and 1 part-time) were posted.

The rest - including Part-time Medical Laboratory Techs - were all Temporary positions (3 full-time and 5 part-time).

The Watch Dog wonders whether they have a problem with the certainty & stability attached to a permanent full-time work force.

Your thoughts?

How many sticks do they have behind their back? Or is this just another stupid human trick?

2011-06-30T10:20:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Shaunavon Hospital

The watch dog is getting confused and even more frustrated with the ‘creative’ tricks management in Cypress is rolling out these days

First they tried replacing regular staff with contract staff. That didn’t work. So…

As of July 8, 2011 the Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre will see RNs working all days – 12 hour days.

The RNs will be self-scheduling.

The dog asks: ‘What happens to LPNs if the RNs are self-scheduling?’

Shaunavon Hospital will magically become a ‘Health Centre’. But wait, the doctors won’t agree to call the hospital a health centre so a more ‘creative’ name is in the works.

Might we suggest, save the signage re-printing money and keep it a HOSPITAL????

So while the Hospital is only running 12 hours instead of it’s mandated 24 hours, EMS will sit in the ‘hospital’ parking lot for 12 hours like an emergency tent that they put up for outdoor festivals.

EMS workers will have to assess the person in the ambulance and then tell the patient where to go…return the next day for more care or if the situation is dire enough… they will take the patient by ambulance to Swift Current.

Wait, aren’t ambulances supposed to take people to Hospitals? Not sit outside them and wait for people to come to them? When did they become emergency clinics?

If this isn’t confusing enough, consider the fact that they have perfectly willing people waiting to work. A retired member of SEIU-West (she just retired in February) is willing to pick up LPN shifts on a casual basis but the employer has told her ‘Wait until August’.

Why? If asked, Management will indicate that this is because of the CHESS program.

Admittedly, the logic in all of this is not entirely clear. We will have more on this story…stay tuned.

It's getting scary out here!

2011-06-16T15:48:00.000-06:00

Gull Lake Special Care Centre - Cypress Health Region

It seems temporary disruptions of service are a chronic condition in Cypress Health Region...or is this a rural nightmare?

Who was out of luck on June 15, 2011? The residents of Gull Lake.

It may be one day, but as residents of Leader found out, one day leads to two, leads to three, etc... before you know it, your community is in a full-blown "temporary closure" mode. Now it has been over a year.

Residents of Wakaw are experiencing a threat of closure at their hospital too. And the list keeps growing in rural Saskatchewan.

This watchdog encourages the residents living in the Cypress Health Region to take advantage of the offer on this flyer (pictured below) and call the Health Services Manager and share your concerns about the epidemic of temporary disruptions of service in the Cypress Health Region.

It’s about dog-gone time…

2011-06-06T09:57:00.000-06:00

Leader Hospital – Cypress Health Region

Congratulations to the town of Leader. The Cypress Health Region confirmed that they will be re-opening the hospital for acute care services effective June 20, 2011.

Temporary, in this case, meant just over a year of no hospital acute care services.

This watch dog is encouraged by this news and is hopeful that this isn’t a temporary re-opening.

Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take the Saskatoon Health Region as long to re-open the Wakaw Hospital.

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

2011-05-27T11:14:00.000-06:00

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

2011-05-19T11:53:00.000-06:00

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?

2011-05-18T16:36:00.000-06:00

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

2011-05-17T12:53:00.000-06:00

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?

2011-05-13T12:03:00.000-06:00

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...

2011-05-11T15:21:00.000-06:00

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

2011-05-10T16:58:00.000-06:00

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”

2011-05-06T09:05:00.000-06:00

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?

2011-05-02T17:27:00.000-06:00

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?

“Temporary” now for more than a Year!

2011-04-27T15:29:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region

The Cypress Health Region supplies Southwest Saskatchewan with Healthcare. The Region runs from the South Saskatchewan River, south until the United States Border, and from the Alberta border east until the Morse/Mankota area. The population of this area is 44,000 people.

Yet they continue to “Temporary Close” facilities

Leader Hospital - Leader, SK

The Leader Hospital is presently under a temporary disruption of services. During this temporary disruption there will be:

•           No emergency room services available

•           No admissions available

•           No Physician or Nurse Practitioner on-call services available

•           Hospital services will NOT be available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Ponteix Health Centre (LAB ONLY) - Ponteix, SK

Laboratory services at the Ponteix Health Centre will be unavailable on May 9, 10, and 13, 2011. On May 12, 2011, the laboratory will be open from 8:30am to 3:30pm. Regular lab hours (8:00am to 12:00pm, 1:30pm to 3:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays) will resume on Monday, May 16.

Gull Lake Special Care

In addition, there will be changes to the Gull Lake Special Care Centre hours on April 14, 23, and 24 and May 7, 8, 15, 16, 28, and 29. During these days the health centre will be closed altogether or open at reduced hours.

The nearest hospital emergency department is located at the:

Shaunavon Hospital & Care Centre
Cypress Regional Hospital (Swift Current)

Sounds like NO PLAN! Do you think the community’s health needs are being met?

Makes the dog wonder!

Working together to create solutions? We hope so!

2011-04-19T13:23:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region

SEIU-West and the Cypress Health Region have come to an agreement on a pilot project to increase the number of Special Care Aides (SCAs) in long term care facilities as a result of growing critical staff shortages.

As reported by the Southwest Booster on April 14, 2011, this is an innovative program that will give people an opportunity to get a good understanding of the position with on-the-job training while earning their certification as an SCA.

We can only hope that they will be willing to work with us on future creative strategies that will lend to fewer SCAs quitting the sector or work with this Health Region due to workplace concerns.

This dog will be watching to see how this potential solution plays out and will keep on the trail of innovative health delivery solutions.

“Minimum Wage Indexing”….doesn’t that sound familiar?

2011-04-15T09:21:00.001-06:00

The province of Sasakatchewan

So we need to give credit where credit is due. The SaskParty government has come out in support of the IDEA of Minimum wage indexing.

Didn’t a former government of Saskatchewan have that idea first? Imitation is a form of compliment right?

The puzzling part of this announcement is not that it is a recycled idea, rather it is that the SaskParty government put indexing on hold in December of 2007 and maintained that hold for the previous 3 and ½ years, yet now, and just before a provincial election, the idea seems much more palatable.

Call me suspicious, but I too wonder about the whole notion of tying the index to the combination of consumer price index and the average industrial wage. Is this going to be similar to the SAHO exercise of playing with data in order to achieve limited, if any, equity for the worker?

According to this same article, the Minimum wage has risen by 16% since 2008 to $9.25/hr. This fall it will go up by 19 cents. This takes us to $9.44/hr.

"The idea of the annual increment makes it easier for business to deal with," Morgan said. "We think it keeps a worker at the low-end of the income scale up to date with where the inflationary costs might be.'

Stay with me here…

So if such increases are keeping up with the inflationary costs then why over the past 12 years did Canada’s top CEOs salaries go up an average of 444%?

If inflationary rates are good for the goose, why not the gander?

Half a Doctor is still better than no doctor at all?

2011-04-14T09:14:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon Health Region

Kudos to Dr. Zbigniew Gwiazda! He is the doctor who stepped up to take on a Part-time role for the residents of Wakaw. He recognized that the community was passionate in their effort to maintain health care services and he is doing his part to assist.

We are still working on getting a full-time solution for this community but we hope that more doctors will take on this type of arrangement for our rural communities.

And that maybe, just maybe, some will extend their expertise on a full-time basis.

A dog’s breakfast of Health and Safety issues…

2011-04-13T09:43:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Swift Current Care Centre

The Union representing care providers at the Swift Current Care Centre have brought significant health and safety issues to management’s attention on several different occasions.

The Union has sent two recent pieces of correspondence trying to get management to address these critical issues.

The letter dated March 23, 2011 highlighted ongoing staff shortages and requested a meeting of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee by April 8, 2011.

No action was taken by management.

The Union asked whether OH & S committee members had received any management initiative to schedule a committee meeting. They heard no plans to meet.

Another letter has been sent out dated April 8, 2011 urging committee members to forward these matters to the attention of the Occupational Health Officer.

What will it take to get management’s attention?

Give a dog a break…

2011-04-12T11:43:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Swift Current Care Centre

Basic needs are basic needs right?

So if the staff can’t fulfill their own basic needs, like eating, how can they be effective in their job to provide for the basic needs of the residents they care for?

Staff are not able to take the breaks that they are entitled to because they are working alone or short-staffed.

The Region knows there are faced with critical staffing issues. They have postings up; they have career information nights.

But no one wants to work that hard with no rest periods or meal breaks.

Are we being dragged back in time by our collars here?

Can you hear the familiar barking? It sounds like further rural health care service disruptions…

2011-04-08T12:51:00.000-06:00

Heartland Health Region

Macklin Health Centre had NO emergency services, NO physicians from February 18, 2011 to February 28, 2011.

Rosetown Health Centre had limited physician services available with referrals to Outlook physicians only for March 9 and 10, 2011.

Kerrobert Integrated Health Centre had NO physician coverage with referrals to Kindersley physicians on March 12 and 13, 2011.

And GUESS what – NO EMS Services in the community of Kerrobert on March 15, 2011.

The Watchdog wonders: are the residents feeling a little less certain about the reliability of their health care services? I bet.

Red Light, Green Light, Stop!

2011-04-04T10:38:00.002-06:00

Cypress Health Region

Kudos for the Cypress Health Region for developing a system in order to alert community members of health care service disruptions.

Check it out: http://www.cypresshealth.ca/disruptions.htm (Note: At the time of this posting there were only updates under "Red Lights".)

In order from top to bottom of the page:

Red: Facilities under a temporary disruption of services

Yellow: Facilities that may be under a temporary disruption of services
in the near future

Green: Facilities that are operating under normal conditions

Makes you wonder why they wouldn't include a complete list of all the
facilities that are "operating under normal conditions"...

How many doctors does it take to keep a hospital open in Saskatchewan?

2011-03-31T16:24:00.003-06:00

Cypress Health Region vs. Saskatoon Health Region

Sounds like the start of a bad joke doesn’t it?

Well it’s in fact a very serious question.

The CEO in Cypress is saying about the Hospital in Leader: “Once we have received confirmation that we have two physicians who are licensed and ready to provide medical services in the community, there will be an emphasis on expediting the return to service date as soon as we can.” (Cypress Health Region Press Release March 25 - click on the pictures below to read the full release).

While Saskatoon Health Region representatives are saying it would take 3 physicians before Wakaw Hospital can be re-opened.

While this is confusing in and of itself, consider the fact that there are many communities with fewer than 3 permanent physicians that continue to have hospital beds, not a band-aid depot.

Enough to make you scratch your head…

Who Let the SCA’s Out?

2011-03-31T10:38:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region

You might want to check out the latest initiative by Cypress Health Region.

Ad from South West Booster, March 2011

In the recent edition of the South West Booster is the announcement of Information meetings to be held regarding Care Aide Careers.

So they have finally discovered that they are short of Special Care Aides and Home Care Aides.

Well, well. My question is whether they now realize why they are suffering from critical retention issues?

Perhaps someone should remind them: the course is very expensive, it is not readily available in all communities, the work is physically laborious, compensation is well better in Alberta, particularly when you look at the hours of work (since forced changes) as these are undesirable and the seasoned staff are real tired of having no voice in the workplace.

I am thinking management, SAHO and this government having been standing with the door open for quite some time.

Where’s The Funding?

2011-03-29T16:41:00.000-06:00

Are rural hospitals being buried across Saskatchewan?

We have noticed that hospital closures are increasing, particularly in those communities with fewer than 3 doctors.

We are still working hard with communities to save their local hospitals.

What can you do to support rural hospitals in Saskatchewan?

How about sending a letter to the Minister of Health and asking him directly “Where’s The Funding”.

Help the communities stay strong in their fight.

Add your voice to the many who want to maintain quality health care services.

Watch Dog Review of the Provincial Budget

2011-03-24T16:13:00.000-06:00

$5.1 million for beer store owners.

$1.7 million for housing.

How much for health care workers in their last contract?

How much to address recruitment and retention of doctors so hospitals can stay open?

How much for PAIRS agreement so graduating doctors don't leave SK when they're done at the University of Sask?

Obviously there is a crisis in beer sales.

Everyone else can just wait.

It's a dog gone shame.

2011-03-23T13:11:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Swift Current Care Centre

Although I would like to update the watchdog with good news, regrettably I have none.

My fear is that many of our care staff are now gone forever, with no replacement as the ongoing employer strategy.

Between March 8 and March 17, we had only 2 days where we worked without nursing staff shortages.

On March 8, we were short one Special Care Aide on days.

On March 10 & 17 we worked short one Licensed Practical Nurse on days.

These are our best examples.

On March 12, we were short one Licensed Practical Nurse on days and down two Special Care Aides between our day and evening shifts.

Worse yet on the 13^th of March, we worked short one Licensed Practical Nurse and one Special Care Aide on days and we worked short three Special Care Aides throughout the evening shifts.

It is getting worse each day and we predicted this would happen when the employer forced shift changes.

How can our employer expect us to maintain quality care? Our residents have personal care needs that we are not able to manage due to insufficient staffing levels…when will the family members of our residents begin to speak out?

Working like a dog….

2011-03-22T14:00:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Palliser Regional Care Centre

This was our start on Monday March 21, 2011 at the Palliser Regional Care Centre.

Short 1 Special Care Aide on second floor.

Short 2 Special Care Aides on third floor.

Short 1 Nurse on third floor and the other Nurse on third floor was working overtime.

What a day!!!!!!!!!

Giving the Dog a Bone?

2011-03-22T09:09:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region
– Palliser Regional Care Centre

We used to have real good food cooked in our kitchen that filled our building with a pleasant, wonderful just ‘baked’ aroma. Well, no more of that. Now our food is prepared off-site and delivered. It is reheated before it is served.

Food quality is at an all time low. I wouldn’t even dream of feeding this to my pet. There are clumps in the pureed potatoes, meat and vegetables. It looks worse than it smells. We throw out most of it because the residents don’t eat it and I don’t blame them. The food system works so poorly that the food comes out piping hot. Residents have been burned.

When residents lose weight we are instructed to offer them Boost & Ensure…who really would enjoy 6 or 8 servings of this each day…every day, and for the rest of your life? It is certainly not ‘customer’ service at Palliser.

Doesn’t Make No Dog Gone Sense

2011-03-18T16:17:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon Health Region – Wakaw Hospital

So, the reality is that SEIU-West sent a letter seeking the urgent attention of the Health Minister to keep the Wakaw Hospital open in December of 2010. He replied to that letter two months later and provided great lip service to the newest and the brightest at the provincial Physician Recruitment Agency. Today, our members and the residents of Wakaw (and the surrounding area) did NOT experience the end-product of good work, in terms of retention efforts. Rather, they learned that Wakaw Hospital is closing on April 1st.

Get this, the public announcement letter from Saskatoon Health Region provided today is dated March 23 and comes on letterhead with a logo: Healthiest People – Healthiest Communities – Exceptional Service. What is the message here? Do you really think that the residents of Wakaw (and the surrounding area) feel like they will be getting exceptional service in the future?

To see the letter click on the picture below:

Do they think we’re a pack of wild dogs?

2011-03-18T09:25:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

It’s ok it seems to send managers to Alaska so they can come back and teach us about team work.

We know all about Team work – we work short on a regular basis. Team Work is how our daily work gets done.

Real team work is the element that’s missing at the manager level – or we wouldn’t be working short!

Oh, and let’s not forget that increase of some 34% in their wages… What did you and I get?

Chasing our Tail Again...

2011-03-16T16:45:00.000-06:00

Saskatoon Health Region

Recently, a member at my workplace submitted a vacation request for two days of vacation on a weekend that according to the master rotation she was scheduled to work. But guess what, the employer did not honour the master rotation, and the manager changed this members scheduled days to days off, and approved vacation for days the member did not want. When questioned, the manager insisted that it was the employers right!

But that's not all, this same member has encountered a different manager who denied her a position at another site. The second manager stated that the member is not eligible to be considered for the position, because she is not consistently below the peer group average when it comes to sick time usage. Wow!

Yet get this, three months ago this same member had applied for another position and was denied it too. At the time of the posting, the member was above the peer group average, but the manager said to our member "we would love to have you, if only you could reduce your sick time usage."

Since this time, the member has done all she can to reduce her sick time, recognized what is making her ill, and fixed the problem. Now that she accomplished what many people never do; she has recognized her problem and dealt with it, yet this employer stops her in her tracks again, and tells her 'oh no not good enough'. They phone her at home, and bring her to tears, they make her feel unvalued, unsupported and unwanted.

In short, nothing will be good enough for this manager.

Stay tuned for more up-dates, these managers feed off each other to do harm and what is so sad...they enjoy it.

It's a dog wash!

2011-03-15T17:27:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Back in the good old days, when we were able to provide our residents with a 'real' home life experience, we also used to provide laundry service in-house. There used to be a separate bag for BM (means: 'bowel movement') cloths and these did not get mixed in with the cloths we used to wash our residents.

Now the separate bag concept does not work with our Regina laundry system: so chances are that the wash cloth we use to wash a residents face today was used on someone else's backside a day or two earlier. Isn't that disgusting?

We refer to the good old days because this was avoided and we were usually NEVER short of laundry supplies. Now it is routine that we are short of supplies including...bibs, nighties, towels, facecloths, sheets & soakers.

Another Senior Management efficiency!

Well, it looks like there is no real plan in Gull Lake...

2011-03-11T09:43:00.017-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Gull Lake Special Care Centre

Yet another community falls victim to a “temporary disruption of services” on Wednesday March 9, 2011 as this was posted:

Given that the government and the Health Region have no real plan, the residents in rural Saskatchewan need to time their emergency very carefully and avoid these temporary disruptions. Yikes!

Oh Where, Oh Where have our Care Providers Gone…Oh Where, Oh Where could they be?

2011-03-10T16:51:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region – Swift Current Care Centre

Do you or does someone you know have a family member who resides at Swift Current Care Centre?

If so, you might want to know just how compromised the staffing levels have been since the forced shift changes. In 2 short months (January & February) the care providers worked short on eighteen days…sometimes with one fewer SCA, other times with two fewer SCA’s and other times without adequate nursing coverage from either a LPN or RN or both.

You might wonder how they can continue to provide safe care. The sad reality is that there are more and more jobs being posted every week. Since March 1, there have been 45 postings go up. The problem is that there are too few applicants. As an example, only one application was received for the recent posting of three Full-Time SCA positions at Swift Current Care Centre. 1 out of 3. These numbers are somewhat consistent with the number of days worked facing unsafe staffing levels.

So the government can protect the residents from unsafe staffing levels but ONLY when the care providers are at a bargaining table. Great protection, right?

Perhaps we should look back to when the 12 hour shifts were cancelled. Management told staff they could leave and go elsewhere to work if they did not like the new shift patterns. It looks like they listened. I sure hope that management has a plan on how they will provide care for the residents when they have no care providers. Don’t you?

It’s like day and night

2011-03-09T15:23:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Day shifts are more difficult, to be sure because the residents are awake and more demanding.

Workers are hesitant to accept day shifts because they know what they’re in for.

This affects LPNs, SCAs, and RNs.

It’s not unusual for the employer to go without a nurse on the night shift.

But what if there were an emergency?

Rural Sask Hospitals proudly announce the ‘patience first’ delivery of care model…

2011-03-08T11:47:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Maple Creek Hospital

When a member of the general public goes to Maple Creek hospital for laboratory testing there is a good chance that they will get to wait for their results. Every single patient should be asking: ‘where are my test results being done’? Don’t be surprised when you learn that there is a delay associated with transporting the sample to another location.

While the CEO has indicated that the surplus generated by this health region does not come from any vacancies that remain unfilled within the SEIU-West bargaining unit, this is simply not the case. A part-time CLXT position was posted in September of 2010 – it was never filled and it has never been re-posted. We would like to know why union members are being stone-walled in their pleas to have this position filled. Over the last 6 months, there have been approximately 29 shifts where the staff have worked short. This causes a further increase in the wait time to collect the sample…so now you get to wait twice.

Saskatchewan now offers two-tiered health care – urban Saskatchewan offers the ‘patient first’ model and in rural Saskatchewan you get the ‘patience first’ model. What is your preference?

If you don’t like it why don’t you leave?

2011-03-07T16:20:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

We are scared that the strong, efficient caring organization we have helped to build will fall apart, because of un-carefully dictated changes.

Scheduling calls have reached the point of outright harassment. They are calling people already working full-time hours in an attempt to get staffing levels mandated by our management for safety.

Can management not see that there is a major crisis just around the corner if they do not take full responsibility for this fiasco, admit that they were WRONG in changing the shifts and take positive steps to stop the hemorrhaging, if not, there will be no one here for them to manage. We will have all taken management’s advice and found work elsewhere.

Stretching the leash to the brink

2011-03-04T09:48:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

We understand that our workplace is our resident’s home and we do our best to accommodate everyone’s needs.

We know the families are upset with increased wait times but when you reduce the number of workers from 9-10 at a time to 6-7 and you increase the amount of residents who need extra attention from 6 to 12 in one area something is going to give.

If staff had more input on how workloads are organized, we would be able to stem this issue.

If you leave, who will take care of me?

2011-03-03T09:37:00.002-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Mass exodus of Palliser staff from November to the end of January – 4 from 2^nd floor alone – there will be more leaving because of understaffing and stress. They were good staff.

Others are trying to job-share because they can’t handle the FT changes from 12 to 8 hours and then being scheduled 7 days a week.

“Retention and Recruitment is Ruff”

2011-03-02T09:41:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

How many people want to work weekends/evenings/holidays all the time? On top of being very physical and mental work, how many people want to spend money on schooling to work like this every day?

Let there be 8 hour shifts!

2011-03-01T13:15:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Since the move from 12 hour shifts to 8 hours has been implemented:

Management is scheduling people 7 days in a row. At least with 12 hours there would be days off. Could management work 7 days in a row doing the job that SCAs do? Doubtful.
SCAs are complaining of more headaches, back aches, etc...
Staff’s lack of home life. Some staff are saying they are having problems at home. Where’s that work/life balance.
Overtime has skyrocketed since new rotations were implemented.

Managers and Directors should be confident in the depth of employees work experience and should listen to what employees are telling them 8 hour shifts are not working.

Oh where oh where have my tax dollars gone?

2011-02-28T11:08:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Beth Vachon in an article that ran in the Prairie Post on January 14, 2011 indicated that they have not laid off any SEIU-West staff in the last year and have honoured all appointments for SEIU Staff. She also stated that surpluses go to the capital fund as it would be irresponsible for the region to create staff positions with a temporary influx of funds.

Capital to build private hospitals? Where is the commitment to publicly funded owned and administered care?

What about the bed pan flusher we need? Can you fit that in with the temporary influx of money?

"No Barking Zone"

2011-02-25T10:14:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - multiple facilities

Since the launch of our Watchdog blog, management has now cut off all access to our Union Website for our members employed in the Cypress Health Region.

If it looks like censorship and feels like censorship, perhaps it is.

This means no access to their new collective agreement and Joint Job Evaluation information. It also means that they no longer have interactive ability - to ask questions of their union.

What's next, wire taps?

It sure makes you wonder what they have to hide.

Part-time solutions to a FULL-Time problem

2011-02-24T16:50:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

In their wisdom, and much to the staff’s disappointment, the Cypress Health Region has decided to post jobs to help fill the need for staff.

Sounds good right?

Not really.

They are posting for part-time positions when there is a full time need.

Below are images of the postings that went up recently for various jobs.

Here’s a quick summary:

Part-Time:

SCA (3)

Office Admin Assistant (1)

Food Service Worker (1)

Unit Assistant (1)

Home Care Aide (2)

Full-Time:

Office Administrative Assistant (1)

Temporary Part-time:

Health Records clerk (2)

Office Administrative Assistant (1)

Staff Scheduler (1)

Home Care Aide (3)

Temporary Full-time:

Special Care Aide (1)

Notice anything? The majority of the temporary positions are in the actual DELIVERY of care.

Time for the Region to step up and fill these jobs permanently.

What a difference 20 years makes (140 in dog years)

2011-02-23T15:59:00.002-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

Health care has changed drastically. Residents entering the care facilities, now have high needs. As opposed to 20 years ago when a lot of residents could walk and help with their care. If you are mobile and able to care for yourself, now you get to stay in your home. This is better for the person than institutional care. But why are we working with less staff than we had 20 years ago?

So in the past we had lower need residents and more staff. Today we have higher needs residents and less staff.

This just doesn’t make sense.

2011-02-22T13:09:00.001-06:00

Here boy! Over here!

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

How much hands-on do the managers/management do with our residents? Are you comfortable that they should be able to make decisions on behalf of our residents? As care providers we aren’t. When was the last time they did hands-on care?

Not listening to staff is a form of disrespect. We are the front line and we know our jobs.

Our managers don’t walk the halls, they don’t know what we go through and they don’t know our residents. So when we tell them things and they say, “Oh, well everyone tells me that” and they don’t take action, this should be cause for concern. A good example of this is when we told our managers that we could not work 7 shifts in a row. They did not listen and now they are filling vacancies.

Is Your Health Care Going to the Dogs?

2011-02-18T09:37:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region

I often wonder if the left hand has any idea what the right hand is doing when it comes to Cypress Health Region. Does the general public connect the inconsistencies in their messages? I hope so, because their quick, glossy answers are not fooling any of us service providers. On September 17, 2010 Cypress Region committed to increased nursing staff hours as a result of the change to 8 hour shift rotations. Yet when you see the real staffing levels in the long term care facilities on the blog – the total nursing hours do not even come close to those set out by the Health Region as necessary to perform essential services. Scroll lower and you will find they are not even meeting regular staffing levels. What’s that? When we did our rally objecting to their surplus (on our backs) they stated that there were no shortages in the SEIU-West units. Now they are closing services in Shaunavon over the upcoming weekend due to an absence of Lab/X-ray staff. They also stated in the Prairie Post some time ago that they had received more Registered Nurses than initially allotted. Yet they cannot get a RN to work in Shaunavon which is contributing to the closure of service. They don’t have any shortages, right? Don’t believe them!

Who is in the doghouse now?

2011-02-17T09:14:00.007-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Palliser Regional Care Centre

We all know that you can’t have care without care providers. However, it is not only the care providers that put the management of Cypress Health Region in the doghouse. It is the residents too! See the letter to the editor that our Palliser Regional Care Centre resident, Sonja Fortney, recently submitted to the South-West booster.

She lives on 3^rd floor and she is tired of the unsafe staffing levels and the lack of resources caused by management’s poor decision-making and government funding cuts.

South West Booster On-line: Free medical care implemented in 1944 should be sustainable now

How does their bottom line look from here?

2011-02-16T10:19:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

Harassing the sick and wounded makes their bottom line look great. They have done nothing more to advance health and safety, their idea of stopping the workers compensation claims and sick time is to deny it. This just looks good on paper! We are paying out money just about everyday in OT. Morale could not be lower.

Crashing through the Respect and Dignity Line…

2011-02-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

Employers have phoned workers at home everyday and intimidated them until they come back to work sick or injured.

Examples include:

Telling a wounded employee that is next day post surgery that they need to be at work!!! Without proper underclothing if need be. I believe we would hear about the proper dress code policy if we all chose to come to work wearing no bra to work….don’t you?

Calling an employee and asking her which of her duties she could perform while taking treatment for cancer!!!

Management telling workers to wear diapers to work when they should be at home taking care of themselves, and not out trying to take care of our sick and elderly.

Oh where oh where has my Health Region gone?

2011-02-14T11:27:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

Did you find anything out about the big bonuses? And also the nice relaxing weekend they got to spend in Cypress Hills provincial park? Who paid for that? Was it out of the big 1.2 million surplus they got off the backs of the employees? This comes down to wasting tax-payers’ money again. Management makes it sound like it is our greed for higher wages that is breaking the bank – how about ensuring safe staffing levels so that our residents receive proper care…let’s try that for a while!

Have these people no shame!

Another COST cutting strategy on the backs of workers = The CHESS program

2011-02-11T10:10:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

Employers are telling employees that their doctor notes are not worded good enough and are sending employees back to the doctors office!!!

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to the doctor’s office we must go… Again?

Isn’t this a WASTE of the tax payers’ money when we have to keep going back to the doctor to satisfy the CYPRESS HEALTH REGION? How much does a doctor get paid from the province every time he sees a patient at the clinic?

Service changes that loved ones aren’t aware of

2011-02-10T10:44:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre:

A brochure for “Cook and Chill” type kitchen services was found lying on the table in the staff room. When confronted, management claimed they knew nothing about it. As they explore this option, they cut their cooking staff. Now management is in the process of trying to re-hire but they are saying no one with the qualifications is applying, even though there are workers who have done the job before and could do the work. Does it sound like management know nothing about “Cook and Chill” or does it sound like they are actively contemplating a move to it?

What the heck is “Cook and Chill” service?

Its all pre-cooked food and warmed up days later!! YUK! They want us to treat these seniors like they were in there own homes, yet this is NOT what they would eat if they were in there own homes!!

Working short

2011-02-09T11:50:00.001-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

On January 13, there was an announcement on the radio that during the Norovirus outbreak the facility had more staff on duty. The workers who were on duty at the time this aired were shocked since they actually were working with less staff than on any regular day.

Working sick during the Norovirus Outbreak

2011-02-07T12:37:00.000-06:00

Cypress Health Region - Shaunavon Hospital and Care Centre

The rules were changed by the Region and now workers are being compelled to come in after being “symptom free” for 24 hours. But residents are kept in their rooms until they are 72 hours “symptom free”. Two sets of rules for one single outbreak: how can this be an effective infection control practice?