Manitoba Nurses Union
275 Broadway R3C 4M6 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

We’ve got important information we want to share with you over the coming weeks and we want to ensure you receive our communications. Once you’re set up to receive our emails you’ll see your MNU ID number appear in any emails we send you. Log in to the Member Portal on manitobanurses.ca (please use a web browser, not the app) and under the My Profile menu, select Update Email. Which leads us to our portal news Members, we’ve been putting together information sheets and barga...ining updates that are available to access through our Member Portal on manitobanurses.ca. We are regularly adding infographics and trying to break down the complicated language of bargaining and legislation so that we can educate everyone to become informed advocates. There are new info sheets being posted in there regularly, and we'll continue to do so! If you do not know your MNU ID number, please contact our membership department [email protected] and they will gladly help you out, as this is your access number you need to log in. And soon, we will be featuring a recording of our latest webinar ‘An Evening with The President, Darlene Jackson’ in the portal. Due to unusually high volume during the COVID-19 pandemic, cloud recordings require extra processing time that may take up to 24 to 72 hours, so as soon as it’s in our hands, we will make it available. In case you weren’t able to attend, the webinar is unedited, and like any live event, it’s got some gaffes which make for a few guaranteed laughs. But it is also 100% authentic and really informative about all the questions surrounding bargaining and legislation. We promise you won’t be disappointed!

Our Inner CouRAGE campaign is all about bringing nurses together. It’s about sharing their realities with the public. It’s about letting you know that patients are still safe, but nurses are suffering. It’s about truth. And the truth is Heather, you didn’t actually add 60 nurses to the ICU, you MOVED 60 nurses from other places. The truth is that in doing so, you left another gaping hole in our system. Pulling 10 nurses from a dialysis unit to throw into ICU isn’t adding 10 n...urses. Just like moving Manitobans to Thunder Bay doesn’t mean we have more space to care for the sick. We began this week by bringing you Kristen’s story. She's got duct tape on her mouth because the truth is nurses are not supposed to speak out. Nurses should be nurturers, they’re kind, they’re polite. But the truth is they are also incredibly astute and see right through the constant deflections from Health Minister Stefanson and the Premier. The truth is nurses see where things are falling apart. They are continuing to ensure a high quality of patient care, but at the price of themselves. They will keep doing this until the pandemic is over, but just know Pal(lister), we’re onto you. The duct tape is coming off one way or another. The frontlines see the fault lines and the truth is coming out.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Manitoba’s mortality rate of COVID ICU deaths in hospital is 10% HIGHER than the national average during this pandemic. While we understand that perhaps it might take some time for a Minister of Health to get familiar with her new portfolio, let’s be clear, a nurse is NOT just a nurse. Redeploying nurses and dropping them like hot potatoes into ICUs is outRAGEous.... Expecting a redeployed nurse to become proficient in the ICU overnight is impossible. Expecting a seasoned ICU nurse to teach, guide AND save lives is irresponsible. Shuffling might be commonplace for cabinet ministers, but for nurses, feeling ill-prepared is alarming. And shuffling people is costing lives. A nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Sure, Heather. Education is power. Members, go to the home page of the Member Portal on manitobanurses.ca for information on WRHA/Shared Health overtime statistics. If you are not a member, please speak up for our nurses. It affects all of us.

Burnout is happening at an alarming rate. If you have spent any time in the company of a frontline nurse in the last 15 months, you know this is exactly how they are feeling. It’s as though this government has lit them on fire from the inside out. They are mentally, emotionally and physically spent. Their intuition, readiness and ability to ‘answer the call’ was once strong. Back then, they were firing on all cylinders. But this far into this pandemic the critical nursing sho...rtage, constant disrespect, loss, and personal suffering has extinguished their fire. With rural overtime at an all-time high, many of our nurses have nothing left to give. So, let me ask you this Pal(lister), how long do we have to sound the alarm bells before you heed the call? Education is power. Members, go to the home page of the Member Portal on manitobanurses.ca for more information on rural overtime statistics. If you are not a member, please speak up for our nurses. It affects all of us.

If you haven’t yet read Kristen’s story on innercourage.ca, you might not realize that nurses are NOT encouraged to speak out about the issues they experience on the frontline. The Manitoba Nurses Union has been saying for years that WE ARE FLAT OUT RUNNING OUT OF NURSES. We cannot send nurses to Ontario.... We cannot work nurses to exhaustion. We cannot expect nurses to process grief in isolation. We cannot move nurses around our province like pawns on a chess board. Plain and simply put, we need our government to create a plan to keep and recruit more nurses into the province. It’s obvious that if we don’t stop falling short in every aspect of a nurse’s life, Manitoba will NEVER be a place to come and practice nursing. Education is power. Members, go to the Member Portal on manitobanurses.ca for more information on nurse vacancies. If you are not a member, please speak up for our nurses. It affects all of us.

As COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise, nurses need all Manitobans to do their part. - Stay home as much as possible - If you must leave for essential reasons, wear a mask and maintain physical distancing - Wash your hands frequently ... - Get a flu shot The five day test positivity rate is now 14.2 per cent, and another 11 deaths were announced today. ICUs are near capacity and health care workers are stretched thin. Do your part and follow the fundamentals. Lives depend on it.

Relying on excessive overtime to handle case volumes is not a sustainable solution. The Pallister government must do more to ensure our public health system can adequately respond to the growing surge, and help reduce further spread of COVID in our communities. - MNU President Darlene Jackson

ICYMI: MNU President Darlene Jackson was on CBC's The Current to discuss worsening COVID-19 situation in Manitoba, the provincial government's response, and nurses' ongoing concerns (interview starts at approximately the 6 minute mark). https://www.cbc.ca//as-covid-19-surges-in-canada-half-hear

There was another record breaking number of COVID-19 cases announced today. Please stay home. Leave only for essential reasons, wear a mask, and always maintain physical distancing. Wash your hands frequently. Nurses and all health care workers need everyone to do their part.

"It would be universally acknowledged that at 14 per cent (test positivity), you are absolutely not capturing probably at least 80 to 90 per cent of infections" A reminder that the actual number of infections is far greater than the reported cases. Health care workers need everyone to do their part. Stay home.... https://www.winnipegfreepress.com//manitoba-full-of-undiag

"It’s incumbent upon the provincial government to be responsible and accountable and actually show the investments they make in Manitobans in all Manitobans, regardless of which community they come from or which population they are"

"Agencies know the pressures Manitoba nurses are facing, and they are taking advantage. Recruiting out of Manitoba at a time of critical need in our province is absolutely deplorable. But the fact is the Pallister government has effectively done nothing to recruit and retain nurses here in the province, and their actions have only made the situation worse." - MNU President Darlene Jackson https://www.winnipegfreepress.com//pandemic-poaching-of-ma

"The CancerCare nurses are deeply committed to their patients, and providing services at community hospitals allows them to develop close relationships... and helps keep those services accessible" - MNU President Darlene Jackson https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video

The province has a duty to acquire and distribute personal protective equipment that meets the standards required to keep frontline nurses and other health care professionals safe, MNU President Darlene Jackson said. There have been far too many issues with PPE since the start of the pandemic. Far too many frontline staff are becoming ill with COVID. We are eight months in, and these issues should have been dealt with months ago. Government must do better. https://winnipegsun.com//government-recalling-masks-sent-t