Sit ins in Nunavik Health center says it heard the

Sit-ins in Nunavik | Health center says it heard ‘the scream from the heart’ of nurses

Inuulitsivik Health Center is now responding to saying it “heard from the heart” the cry of nurses who staged a sit-in Thursday night to protest their working conditions and critical staff shortages on the Hudson’s Bay shore some of their union’s six demands.

Posted at 5:59pm

Split

Nurses in the seven Hudson’s Bay villages called a sit-in at 5 p.m. Thursday evening. They stopped answering the population’s emergency telephones for medical emergencies.

Overnight, Administrative Labor Court (TAT) Judge Irène Zaïkoff issued a decision ordering nurses from the Northern Union of Hudson’s Bay Nurses and Care Professionals to end their coercive practices.

In a letter sent to all staff on Friday and seen by La Presse, Inuulitsivik Health Center (CSI) Director Sarah Beaulne and other members of management “thank the staff and managers who, while showing solidarity with their colleagues , voluntarily took the guard in order not to endanger the population. The same goes for the doctors who took on that responsibility to give the nursing team the opportunity to protest.”

Ms Beaulne and her colleagues say they are “conscious and sensitive” to the needs of their employees. “We have been working for months with the NRBHSS (Editor’s note: Régie de la Santé et des services sociaux du Nunavik) and the MSSS (Editor’s note: Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux) to bring about changes in the working conditions of our employees . Even if the work is not progressing at the pace desired by all parties, we reiterate that this is a major substantive work and that all the necessary actors have already been involved,” the letter said.

Hudson’s Bay nurses had made six demands on their leadership before conducting their sit-in. In particular, 8 hours of rest per 24-hour period must be guaranteed. In its letter, the CSI mentions that this quiet time is “in theory always provided for in the work schedules” but recognizes “that this condition could not be met when the needs of the communities exceeded the manpower required to respond » CSI says that it is committed to ensuring that these 8 hours are always observed. Meetings are planned for next week, first in Puvirnituq and Inukjuak, then in each of the 5 other villages on the Hudson, so that new working models can be implemented by March 31st everywhere.

A pilot project will also be launched to provide two additional airline tickets for “clinical department staff with full-time status who provide permanent direct services to the population and have on-call hours”.

The Hudson Bay coast has been suffering from staff shortages for months. Last summer, local health officials called for the army to intervene. Health Minister Christian Dubé was there.