Featured letter by Paula Doucet, NBNU President, Nursing shortage demanding immediate attention, May 22, 2021

Dear members,

I feel the need to reach out to you personally to clarify any perceived negativity from recent comments in the media about merging services.

As your president, I strongly believe in the important and necessary role every registered nurse contributes to delivering top quality health care in NB. I also believe that every one of our members deserve a work environment that has safe staffing levels, reasonable expectations of overtime and most importantly, provides the opportunity for you to have time off from work. We absolutely expect these dangerously RN-depleted healthcare facilities to collaborate, but more importantly, to cooperate in protecting your health.

In the 15^th month of the global pandemic and one of the worst nursing shortages we’ve seen in recent years, I am advocating for you, the members of NBNU to have a break – before you break. It is not sustainable for facilities to expect employees to deliver healthcare “business as usual” to the detriment of your own health and wellbeing.

The fact that you and your colleagues collectively worked more than 353,000 hours of overtime in 2020 to hold the system afloat is not sustainable. Expecting you to work the equivalent of two jobs and be paid for one is not normal, and I am asking for temporary changes to be implemented to give you all a break to catch your breath, to recharge and to do so without being made to feel guilty for taking time for yourself and your family.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do have the desire to do better for you, the members I proudly represent. I am committed to fight for you to achieve better working conditions and the respect RNs deserve.

This is about safe and reasonable working conditions, expectations and health care delivery that makes sense with the human resources we have in the system. Stress, burnout and dissatisfaction are very relevant and on the rise; this concerns me deeply, and I can only imagine what the numbers will be post pandemic. These are the reasons why I am asking the government and regional health authorities to come up with a plan to ensure you can get much needed vacation time this summer. Otherwise, there won’t be enough RNs left to continue delivering health care to those in the Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview and surrounding communities.

In Solidarity,

Paula Doucet, RN

NBNU President