The Northern Territories Federation of Labour launched a campaign last week in Iqaluit and Yellowknife drawing attention to the health care crisis, characterized in the North by ongoing staffing shortages and a growing reliance on temporary contract workers.
Sara-Jayne Dempster, president of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour, says that nursing students who graduate here are running into barriers finding jobs, which is contributing to the crisis in the North.
“We are so short-staffed across the North in general, we should be snapping up every single one of them we’re seeing them all leaving, going down south, getting picked up in BC and Alberta and Ontario out east because it’s faster for them to get hired there. The hiring is incredibly slow in the North and that seems to be a really massive barrier to hiring anyone,” said Dempster.
“We would love to see these students basically being guaranteed a position. There’s really no reason we are so short-staffed across the North in general, we should be snapping up every single one of them,” urged Dempster.
The healthcare system is seeing a pattern of contract workers who are being used as a “bandaid solution,” said Dempster.
“We’re using them as a bandaid solution, not as the support that they should be being used for. There will always be a time where we need to fill a gap and we know that it shouldn’t be a reliance.”
Dempster said that the organization has brought forward these concerns with the GNWT, but have yet to hear a response.
North Now reached out to the GNWT and has not heard a response as of publication, but at a meeting earlier this month in Yellowknife, Health Minister Lesa Semmlar provided some insights into system reform. The minister said that Health and Social Services is working to reduce the health care system’s reliance on contract health care workers.
The three health and social services authorities are working with Health and Social Services to change the way care is being delivered, which has led to a “reduced reliance on agency nurses,” said the minister.
Dempster said that health care workers in the North are being “stretched really thin” and expected to take on additional responsibilities.
“It’s really putting a massive strain on our healthcare and when our healthcare workers are stretched and strained and tired, it’s not just them that suffers, it’s the patients that suffer. Things get missed, people are sick so we’re not getting the care that we need.”
“A lot of people have to travel out of their home community because the care isn’t available there where they live. It’s not an option or their health centre has been closed.
“We’re just in a really bad spot right now all the way around,” said Demptser.
Minister Semmlar acknowledged that the health care system in the North has long been in need of reforms.
Minister Semmlar added that it’s especially the remote communities that are confronting fragmented care along with facing systemic barriers like racism when trying to access care.
Health and Social Services are in the process of developing a model that provides continuity of care, including culturally appropriate and culturally respectful supports.
The small community model of care project began with the Dehcho region and has changed the way that health care professionals receive enhanced training and work on multi-disciplinary teams, said Minister Semmlar.
Dempster said that nurses and health care workers want to see more chances to improve local training and recruitment in communities, like outreach, job shadowing and summer job programs, “building a direct pipeline between” colleges to the hospitals and health authorities.
“So they we can make it easier for Northerners to get hired in the North, using every health care worker to make the system stronger.”
Nurses and other health care professionals want to see a better work life balance, they want to see better compensation, essentially they want a ‘seat at the table,” explained Dempster.
“When governments proactively leverage their knowledge to create smart and grounded solutions that address the healthcare crisis, so making sure that we’re listening (and) going past just listening to a doing a survey, working to establish the minimum nurse to patient ratios, which will improve patient, safety and quality of care,” said Dempster.
“All of these things are possible. We, all living in the North, our voices are strong because we are such a small place. The government can do better and I think that they want to, I truly do,” added Dempster.
The minister acknowledged that the work is ongoing.
“Challenges remain, including staffing, shortages and burnout, but across the system, there is a true commitment to find solutions,” said Minister Semmlar.
“We can build a system that reflects the lived realities of our owners and achieve our shared goals of healthy people and communities.”
