Testimonies #FromtheFrontline
UHCWO is deeply concerned about the sector’s ability to deliver high-quality care as vaccine mandates are being enforced against health care workers.
We know Ontario’s health care system is already overstretched. Many patients do not have timely access to the care they need, provided by qualified and experienced practitioners.
Are you a worker, patient or caregiver who has a testimony #FromtheFrontline?
ICU Nurse
“I am an ICU nurse with 14 years of experience. I was terminated due to the vaccine mandate put in place by my hospital, following four weeks of unpaid leave. Our unit was chronically short staffed long before the policy was enforced, regularly falling short of our staffing quota. Every day, there are messages being sent asking nurses to work overtime or cover shifts - one day I received 15 requests! Care standards are being lowered without enough nurses to properly monitor ICU patients who need highly specialized care. This is unacceptable and dangerous – lives are at risk. My former colleagues tell me the situation is worsening by the day and they have already put in several workload grievances.”
Registered Nurse
“I am a Registered Nurse working on a child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit. I have seen first hand the devastating effects the lockdowns have had on our youth. Throughout the pandemic, we have been constantly surging at over 100% capacity as mental illnesses amongst children is skyrocketing. Our unit is short staff with overtime shifts often required. Not just anyone can work on the unit as it is a specialty requiring specific training and experience. If the hospital pushes through a vaccine mandate, our ability to provide care for children and youth suffering from mental illness will collapse. We are scared for these children and want to care for them.”
Patient - Obstetrics
“My wife and I were at the Orangeville hospital for the birth of our daughter. They told us the ICU was shut down the night before because of staff shortages and the hospital has 60 open nursing positions. We were transferred four times in the middle of the night to find a ward with enough nurses to care for patients”
Paramedic
Scarlett Martyn, a Toronto paramedic with 23 years of experience, is very concerned about short-staffed shifts with ZERO ambulances available to respond to 911 calls. “You and your family are left there waiting.” She has natural immunity for COVID-19 and faces termination because of her medical choice.
Diagnostic Sonographer
“I am a diagnostic cardiac sonographer at a busy hospital. I am currently one of the only technicians that can perform pediatric imaging in my department. If I am let go, most orders for pediatric imaging will have to be sent to other hospitals, meaning that children and families will need to travel to another region for diagnostic care and wait times will be further lengthened. I have been working in my profession for many years. A new hire cannot learn complex imaging techniques until several years on the job, for example scanning for pediatric congenital cardiac disorders or stress echocardiograms. Simply put, I am not easily replaced.”
Respiratory Therapist
“I am a veteran Respiratory Therapist (RT) with 15 years of experience. One responsibility that RTs have is to run the ventilators in the ICU. It is a highly specialized position and new hires cannot easily take the place of qualified staff. For example, it takes a long time to know how to ventilate a patient with very stiff lungs, as we have been seeing with patients with COVID-19. The RT department at my hospital is constantly short staffed. We are burnt out after being on the very front lines throughout this pandemic - sick time is higher than I’ve ever seen and morale is low. There is no one to cover vacation time and we cannot afford to lose one more working body. Recently, the ICU at my hospital closed an entire bay as there were not enough staff to accommodate those beds and patients. What will happen once hundreds of experienced staff across the hospital are gone?”
Registered Nurse
“I am a Registered Nurse working in a rural emergency department and recovery unit. I am a part-time staff member but consistently work full-time hours due to the high volume of shifts that need to be covered. On my weekends off, I get six to seven phone calls every day asking me to come to work. Our regional emergency departments often don’t have enough registered nurses and the wait times have been increasing. The operating room is behind on surgeries because of the pandemic and we are trying desperately to catch up. Terminating nurses who are trained and willing to work will only make this situation much worse for patients.”
Registered Nurse
Brianne, a Registered Nurse with 13 years of experience, asks Ontario Premier Doug Ford to more carefully consider the consequences of the public health response to the pandemic that are harming patients, families and communities.
Patient - Cardiac Recovery Unit
“This past summer, my Grandma was admitted to a London hospital to undergo open heart surgery. During her time on the cardiac recovery unit, she experienced gross neglect. She took a shower and the nurse told her that she would be waiting outside of the washroom with a towel to assist her. The unit was short staffed and the nurse had to leave before my Grandma was done bathing - no one was there to help her back into bed. The hospital-owned walker that she had been using had been given to another patient due to the equipment shortage. Weak and short of breath, she had no choice but to walk naked across the floor to the bed. Scarred from surgery and dripping wet, she was then left for an hour before someone was available to come dress and care for her.”
Registered Nurse
“I am a Registered Nurse working in labour and delivery. Almost daily, I am asked to cover shifts because the hospital is dangerously short staffed. There have been many times when labour & delivery is closed to all patients other than the most urgent cases, simply because we don’t have enough workers to provide care. This problem extends to the entire region, where patients are being transferred and shuffled to different sites when there aren’t enough workers to perform and support certain procedures. We have patients waiting on the induction list for days before they can be cared for. This is risky for both mom and baby. Who will be responsible as this becomes worse for patients because competent and experienced workers are being forced off the job?”
Plastic Surgeon
“I am a Plastic Surgeon and I provide 50 per cent of the on-call coverage to four regional hospitals. Soon, I will be fired and there will be only one plastic surgeon remaining who’ll be unable to provide all of the on-call coverage. I am the only surgeon in my hospital performing surgery for ulnar nerve entrapment and basal thumb arthritis. All of the patients needing these procedures will need to travel to other regions to receive care. Many surgeons in Ontario have closed their practice for breast reductions due to excessively long wait times, and I currently have a one-year wait list for my patients. I perform both melanoma reconstruction and sentinel bode biopsy that can still be performed locally for patients but without me there it will require two surgeons instead of one.”
Medical Laboratory Technologist
“I am a Medical Laboratory Technologist in transfusion medicine. I have been a dedicate and conscientious employee delivering highly skilled expertise for over 10 years. I already had COVID-19 and so have developed natural immunity. But my employer won’t recognize natural immunity as an exemption to its vaccination policy. There is a country-wide shortage of medical laboratory technologists. In my department alone, we’ve had several open positions that haven’t been filled for two years and counting! The transfusion lab operates 24/7 and cannot close - all staff must work overtime. My hospital is both a trauma and cancer center, and the department is vital when there is a terrible car accident, for example. In plain and simple terms: people are going to die without enough qualified staff to provide safe blood transfusions.”