Members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) in Sudbury joined an information picket line at the Elizabeth Centre long-term care home in Sudbury on April 11 to send the message that more staffing is needed to provide better care for the residents at for-profit nursing homes.
Chris Bolstridge, president of the ONA bargaining unit at the Val Caron nursing home, said similar information pickets were staged all across Ontario on Friday as the union prepares to enter contract negotiations.
"There are 35 other homes across the province,” said Bolstridge. “We're going into negotiations next week with all the for-profit homes and we're trying to put out our message, which is for better staffing, more staffing for RNs, and PSWs (personal support workers) and RPNs (registered practical nurses), and better wages."
He said there is a significant wage disparity between home workers and hospital workers that should not exist. He added that nursing home corporations are taking significant profits from the business.
"We want that money to come back into the residence, and be able to put that money back into the proper, efficient care for our residents," said Bolstridge.
Similar sentiments were voiced by ONA President Erin Ariss in a news release.
"We are fighting for care, not profit, advocating for the vulnerable residents of Ontario's corporate-owned long-term care homes," said Ariss in a news release on Friday.
"Our residents deserve to receive quality care, yet what we see is wealthy corporations making record profits on the backs of our residents and those who care for them. It's not right, and it's not safe."
Bolstridge said another problem is the use of higher paid contract nurses, who are hired at inflated wage rates, just to keep up the mandated number of nurses required at any one nursing home.
He said the use of contract nurses was "an evil that came out of the pandemic."
He said if the for-profit nursing homes paid their existing staff better wages, then they would likely not have to worry about staff shortages.
Bolstridge said the enticement of better wages is the only reason contract nurses sign on with nursing agencies.
The other problem with contract nurses he said is that while they are indeed qualified, they cannot provide the continuity of care to residents they do not personally know.
He said it is different for in-house nurses who know their patients well and see them and care for them every day.
Bolstridge said there are 128 patients at the Elizabeth centre who are cared for by roughly 100 RNs, RPNs and PSWs. He said there are 12 unionized RNs in the ONA bargaining unit at the nursing home.
ONA is the union representing over 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics, and industry across Ontario.
Len Gillis covers health care along with mining news for Sudbury.com.
