Nurses put the care in healthcare
As the largest single professional group in the healthcare system, nurses play a critical role in the delivery of care and in ensuring long-term sustainability. Without them, the healthcare system simply cannot work.
Unions, such as SEIU Healthcare and its Nursing Division, help nurses reach their best professional potential, deliver outstanding care to patients across the province of Ontario and gain the recognition they have earned and deserve.
SEIU Healthcare represents 57,000 healthcare workers in retirement and nursing homes, homecare and community services and hospitals throughout the province. Its representatives advocate for professional practice and negotiate for improved wages and benefits, safer working environments and increased job security for its members. Through its work with government and stakeholders, the union also contributes to health care policy in the interests of its members and those for whom it cares.
Jackie Walker has been a member of SEIU Healthcare since she was a teenager working at a nursing home. “I didn’t know the value of my union at the time. Then I hit a bump in the road and needed to reach out for help. SEIU was there for me,” she says. “That’s when I learned what my union is and what it can do for its members.”
Walker subsequently became a registered practical nurse (RPN) and spent over a decade helping patients reach their best wellness. Her passion to be more and do more led to her recent transformation from nurse to SEIU Healthcare Nursing Division president, where she represents over 7500 nurses.
“As a nursing division, one of our values is always to put the patient first. After all, that is why we chose this profession,” Walker says. “By lobbying to ensure we have the right nurse with the right client at the right time, we can alleviate the strain on the system and improve patient outcomes.”
One of the biggest challenges in healthcare is an emphasis on part-time nurses, notes Walker. “Like many other young nurses, I spent many years as a part-time worker in the community taking on roles wherever I could, first at a home care agency and subsequently for retirement centres, I thrived as a nurse as did my patients and clients” she explains. “As a part-time worker, It was precarious to have to maintain multiple jobs. I needed stability to grow and reach my full potential””
Part-time work also results in more turnover, which can lead to home care patients lacking consistency in their care, Walker adds. “Often patients are seeing more than one nurse over the course of as little as a week. They are not attuned to client preferences, the tools needed for the job, or the level of care needed. This can negatively effect wellness outcomes.”
In calling for more fulltime nurses across the system, SEIU Healthcare’s Nursing Division is striving to bring better interventions and treatments, improved access and consistency of care to patients,” states Walker. “Every nurse that joins a team depends on extensive experience in the care environment to reach their professional potential. Full-time work can help get us there.”
Walker is also on a mission to bring unity to the nursing profession. “As president, I want to help each nurse to understand they are a vital part of the team, regardless of designation or union affiliation or whether they are on the front line or at the front door,” she says. “We should all be helping and mentoring one other.”
Many nurses take on mentor roles which help develop a more robust nursing profession, says Walker. “Sharing is part of who we are. We take knowledge from one another and utilize it to find best practices that benefit our patients across all areas in which we work.”
“I want my leadership to inspire a culture shift in how we grow our profession and how we collaborate with one another and our Intraprofessional healthcare team. I want a connection that changes the ‘them and us’ mindset to a united ‘we’,” states Walker. “We are stronger together. Unity will help us make the changes necessary to deliver an outstanding level of care for everyone.”
For policy makers, she says, “Open a dialogue with us. Nurses at the bedside are a connection to the patients and people of Canada. We know what they need and we want to share it with you. We are too important to leave out of the conversation.”