Joanna Frketich, Hamilton Spectator, November 25, 2006 Nurses are going to political boot camp to get ready to run in the next election to protect health care from within. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em is the attitude driving nurses to leave the bedside to seek seats at Queen's Park and Parliament Hill. They want to be the ones making decisions after years of feeling ignored by politicians, pushed around by doctors and frustrated by what they see as a deteriorating health-care system. "We know how these dollars can be spent better on front-line care," said Dunnville nurse Kim Stasiak, who's taking candidate training. ... Nurses

Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, President, Ontario Nurses' Association, Toronto, November 3, 2006 The provincial government's much-anticipated plan for alleviating the woes of overcrowded emergency departments in Ontario fails to consider one vital element contributing to the problem: there are not enough nurses. While the government's plan includes funds to lure more emergency room doctors, offers a raise for ER doctors and premiums for some shifts, promises that more hospital beds will be opened, and promises more long-term care beds, ER problems cannot and will not be eased without doing something to retain and attract more nurses. ... Nurses

Canadian Press, November 3, 2006 Representatives of Ontario's registered nurses are in Toronto today going over details of a recently negotiated contract. The new three-year proposed agreement includes a wage increase of 10.75 per cent. The Ontario Nursing (sic) Association also says it includes some benefit, premium and vacation improvements. The deal covers about 1,200 nurses in the province. ... Nurses

Toronto Star, October 19, 2006 Hamilton has more nurses per capita than most of Ontario. Halton's numbers are among the lowest. There are 1,259 nurses per 100,000 people in Hamilton, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reported yesterday. Only Kingston, London, and Thunder Bay have more. Hamilton's access to front-line nurses providing direct patient care is more than twice that of Halton. Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville have 490 nurses per 100,000 people. ... Hamilton

Would Rather Pay Lawyers to Fight Arbitrator's Decision Than Pay Nurses. Ontario Nurses' Association, October 18, 2006 Toronto - The City of Hamilton would rather pay legal fees than pay its Public Health Service Nurses for the overtime they work under an agreement made at the bargaining table. The city was ordered last April to pay Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) Public Health Nurses when they work overtime, but has refused to do so and is taking the case to a Judicial Review next month. ... City

Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, October 18, 2006 Toronto - Evidence of an aging RN workforce provides another warning sign to the federal and provincial governments, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) said today in response to the release of a report by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). The report, called Workforce Trends of Registered Nurses in Canada, 2005, reveals the share of Ontario's RNs over the age of 50 increased by almost six percentage points from 32.8 to 38.6 per cent between 2001 and 2005. The report also provides details on the number of registered nurses that are eligible to retire. ... RNAO

The province is focusing its attention on doctors but nurses have been without a contract since March. Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, president, Ontario Nurses' Association, Toronto, Toronto Star, October 9, 2006 The news that Health Minister George Smitherman has lifted the salary cap for physicians as a way to help fix the doctor's shortage plaguing this province has made headlines. But the troubles plaguing Ontario's health-care system are broader than a shortage of doctors and they need a holistic approach. Doctors are one piece of the large puzzle that is health care. They diagnose and perform procedures and surgeries on patients. Registered nurses then provide the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, hands-on, front-line nursing care to ensure positive patient outcomes. ... Don't

Hamilton Spectator, June 1, 2006

Toronto - Ontario's nurses and hospitals have reached a bitter stalemate in talks for a new contract.

But Liberal Health Minister George Smitherman declined a demand yesterday from the Ontario Nurses' Association that he intervene, saying he's optimistic a settlement can be reached with the Ontario Hospital Association. ... Ontario

Cheryl Heath, Clinton (ON) News-Record, May 17, 2006

Change is good. That is the tact being taken by many of Huron County’s Registered Nursing Association of Ontario members in light of the fact that Local Health Integrated Networks (LHINs) will soon be holding the purse strings for health-care delivery in the province.

And, on May 3, the local chapter rolled out the red carpet for two of the South West District’s six LHIN members at the Municipality of Central Huron’s town hall auditorium.

Janet McEwen, who is vice chairwoman of the local LHIN, is a trained public health nurse that hails from London. ... Change

Andre Picard, Toronto Globe & Mail, March 30, 2006

On the morning of Saturday, Nov. 12, as she tended to surgery patients in the recovery room of Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, nurse Lori Dupont was attacked. She was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and chest by a man wielding a commando-style knife and hell-bent on murder.

That man was Marc Daniel, an anesthesiologist at the hospital and a former lover. He later committed suicide by drug overdose. ... Remedy

Ontario Nurses' Association, March 22, 2006

Toronto - Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN will be available for interviews following tomorrow's 4:00 PM Ontario budget announcement.

Haslam-Stroud is available to discuss the impact of the budget on Ontario health care from the perspective of Registered Nurses, including what the budget will mean to the nursing shortage and quality patient care. ... ONA

Nurses want high-quality medical masks to protect themselves in the event of an avian flu outbreak.
CTV.ca News, March 19, 2006

Ontario nurses say the federal government wasted money by purchasing standard surgical masks incapable of blocking avian flu.

"It was two of our nurses who died during the (SARS outbreak)," Lesley Bell, of the Ontario Nurses Association, told CTV News. "We're just saying we don't want to go through that again. Let's make sure that the nurses and health care workers who are on the front lines are protected." ... Ontario

Health-care workers could face fines of up to $100,000 and jail if they refuse to work.
John Miner, London Free Press, March 1, 2006

Sweeping new Ontario emergency legislation has health-care workers afraid they may be forced to choose between protecting their families and a jail sentence if a flu pandemic hits the province.

Bill 56 has raised alarms with doctors, nurses and other health-care workers because it contains a clause that gives the Ontario cabinet power to "authorize" any person reasonably qualified to provide services in a declared emergency. ... Pandemic

Ontario Hospital Association, February 27, 2006

Toronto - The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) welcomes the beginning of collective agreement negotiations with the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA), said OHA President and CEO Hilary Short.

The negotiations, aimed at securing a new, multi-year collective agreement between Ontario's hospitals and the approximately 50,000 members of the ONA who work in hospitals, are scheduled to begin on Monday, February 27, 2006.

"Ontario's hospitals are great places for nurses to work," said Short. ... OHA

Sheryl Ubelacker, Canadian Press, February 26, 2006

Toronto - A high proportion of nursing graduates are reporting severe burnout less than two years into their jobs - primarily because of crushing workloads, a new study has found.

The detailed survey of 225 junior nurses working in hospitals across Ontario found 66 per cent were experiencing symptoms of burnout, including emotional exhaustion and depression, said principal investigator Heather Laschinger, associate director of nursing research at the University of Western Ontario. ... High