Toronto Nurses Fed Up

June 4, 2003
By Allison Lawlor, Globe and Mail Update

Health-care workers rallied outside Scarborough General Hospital in Toronto on Wednesday to protest against the government's handling of SARS and to call for better screening criteria at hospitals provincewide.

Several hundred gathered at the noon rally outside the hospital, calling for standardized screening processes at hospitals as well as properly-fitting masks and full-body suits that they can wear while working with SARS patients.

Health-care workers have previously expressed concerns that they have not been adequately protected from contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The Tory government must "put worker and public safety first by focusing on eradicating SARS, not telling us to live and work in the 'new normal,'" Sid Ryan, Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said in a news release. Mr. Ryan attended the rally.

He reiterated the call for a public inquiry into the government's handling of SARS.

Mr. Ryan's call came as Ontario health officials reported what they called "a number of positive developments" in the containment of the latest SARS outbreak.

"We have a strong feeling that we are headed in the right direction in bringing an end to this latest cluster of SARS cases," Health Minister Tony Clement said in a news release. "But, of course, only continued vigilance among health-care workers and people in isolation will ensure a positive result."

Health officials announced that the five cases being investigated for SARS at Rouge Valley Health System's Centenary site in east Toronto have been cleared of having the disease; the quarantine period is over for staff and students at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy in Markham, with no new cases reported; the two cases being investigated at West Parry Sound Health Centre and a nurse in isolation in Ottawa have also been cleared.

"These latest results confirm the fact that there has been no community exposure," Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's Commissioner of Public Health said in a news release.

"It is very important, however, for the system to remain in a state of heightened vigilance, so that we can continue to contain the spread of SARS."

Barb Wahl, president of the Ontario Nurses' Association, said however, the public needs to know that huge safety concerns remain for nurses coping with SARS patients.

"If those aren't addressed and the nurses aren't safe than the public won't be safe either," Ms. Wahl told globeandmail.com. "We need to have our nurses fully protected."

Nurses are calling on the government to provide full protective gear for nurses working in emergency, operating rooms and SARS units, where a higher risk of exposure to the SARS virus exists.

"We cannot lose any more health-care workers," Ms. Wahl said. As of Tuesday, almost 250 health-care workers were in quarantine.

Ms. Wahl also called on the government to double the pay of all nurses at risk of contracting SARS at work, even if they aren't working directly with SARS cases.

Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Clement said the government will cover the cost of doubling pay for health-care workers on SARS duty at four Toronto hospitals.

Mr. Clement said the government supports the move to increase compensation for front-line workers but did not endorse requests from other health workers in hospitals dealing with SARS that they get more money as well.

Mr. Clement said the four hospitals, which have formed an alliance to combat the SARS outbreak, are a "special case."

"That has to be recognized as such and that has to be remunerated as such."

Nurses combating SARS have been particularly unhappy that agency temps brought in to help in the fight are being paid at a premium.

The new hospital deal would pay nurses at the top end of the salary scale about $66 an hour, roughly what the temporary nurses are being paid.

X-ray technicians and other staff who work with SARS patients or in SARS screening are also getting the premium.

"We want the same rate of pay as they gave the agency nurses and we want it right throughout the facility," Ms. Wahl said, adding that the extra pay should not just be for nurses at the four hospitals.

The four hospitals are Scarborough General, North York General, St. Michael's and the Etobicoke site of William Osler Health Centre.

All are part of a new alliance formed to handle the bulk of SARS cases in the new cluster discovered late last month.

In an open letter to health-care workers released earlier Wednesday, Mr. Clement acknowledged the nurses safety concerns.

"We are taking appropriate steps to help prevent the spread of SARS and other infectious diseases," he said.

Mr. Clement also praised their dedication, but said, "While I know how hard it is sometimes, our patients must remain our priority."

However, Ms. Wahl said the letter did nothing but anger nurses.

"There is nothing of substance in there [the letter]," she said. "The nurses are literally becoming sick and some are critically ill."

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