Hospital CEO’S actions infuriating

Re: CEO of hospitals in Niagara and Hamilton resigns from provincial pandemic roles after Dominican Republic holiday, Jan. 5

My oldest friend died this past Sunday, in the emergency at St. Catharines hospital. Despite the fact the pace there never slowed, the nurses providing care for my friend were kind and compassionate. The quality of care was outstanding.

During a rare quiet moment, I thanked anurse for the amazing care the hospital had given my friend during her fouryear battle with cancer, and asked how she and her colleagues had been managing throughout the pandemic.

When she turned to face me, there were tears in her eyes. Her answer was not unexpected, but heartbreaking: she said it’s been gruelling, and morale is low.

More and more ambulances are arriving with positive COVID cases. She thanked me for my kind words, words she needed to hear.

To wake up this morning and read that Niagara Health’s CEO Tom Stewart was basking in the Dominican while I had that conversation with that tired, overwhelmed nurse, was infuriating. What I witnessed in the ER Sunday was nothing short of heroic: staff putting their lives on the line during a global pandemic to treat and save others, while the CEO of their hospital was probably sitting on a white sandy beach, sipping cocktails under the sun.

Perhaps it would do Tom Stewart good to put on a pair of scrubs and spend a day in the ER, working alongside the men and women who make it possible for him to afford the kind of lifestyle he is living.

Katherine Jackson

Welland