What the community should do to support healthcare workers

What the community should do to support healthcare workers

Toronto nurse Jennifer Lopez, President of the Integrated Filipino Canadian Nurses Association

By Michelle Chermaine Ramos
LJI Reporter
The Philippine Reporter

According to Statistics Canada, 188,805 Filipinos immigrated here between 2011 to 2016. A census conducted by the Philippine government in 2016 showed that there were 837,130 Filipinos in Canada, making Filipinos the 4th largest visible minority after South Asians, Chinese, and Blacks.

Considering the population and their large presence in the health sector and the countless Filipino associations across Canada, the community can support our healthcare workers in the following ways.

1. PRESSURE THE GOVERNMENT TO DO THE FOLLOWING:

Repeal Bill 124

Encourage supporters to sign the petition: Members of the public and healthcare workers can sign the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario’s petition online here: https://rnao.ca/policy/action-alerts/repeal-bill-124-premier

Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information

Hire more nurses including internationally trained nurses to have the proper nurse-patient ratio

Lopez and other nurses across Canada say that their biggest challenge on the job all boils down to staffing.

“They should be more than willing to embrace the internationally educated nurses and less stringent with the bureaucracy wherein the IENs (internationally trained nurses) should be given less heavy processing on the licensing because they are willing to help. It’s just that the immigration and the CNO (College of Nurses of Ontario) licensing process is very difficult to get into,” Lopez explained.

Exhaustion and limited vacation days due to workplace demands has spurred an exodus of nurses. According to a National Post article on May 13, 2022, a survey conducted by the RNAO with almost 5,200 nurses mostly from Ontario showed that 70 percent of nurses are planning to quit in five years and 42 percent want to leave for good. “Nurses in their mid-20s to mid-30s are already leaving in elevated numbers,” the survey says.

In Alberta, Chan and her colleagues are urging the government to invest more in the healthcare system to alleviate their burnout and strain on their mental health. “That for sure will solve the problem we’re facing mainly because having more funds in the healthcare system would ease the burden of the nurses that are working. It wouldn’t be so pressuring for us. Hire staff. Because if you’re not burnt out, people would want to come to work and not actually want to call in sick because they feel so exhausted and it’s hard,” she said.

2. EMPOWER MIGRANT WORKERS TO UNITE AND RAISE THEIR VOICES

Migrant advocacy groups like Migrante Quebec and Pinay are urging migrant workers in Quebec to come out and share their stories. They believe that hearing how Quebec’s Bill 96 is negatively impacting the province’s labour shortage straight from the mouths of those who are affected should better inform the public about these issues.

“If the government is serious about needing workers, they shouldn’t create barriers. Our point is we’re good enough to work, we’re good enough to stay. As for the migrants here, they should stand together and support each other,” said Reyes.

“We at Migrante have advocated for the rights of workers, but the workers who just arrived and those who are under a work permit are hard to reach. They should be the ones speaking out at campaigns. That’s our request. Because if we can’t pressure the government, they won’t just give us our demands,” she explained.
Migrante Quebec can be reached on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/migrantequebec/

3. CALL ON FILIPINO PERMANENT RESIDENTS, CITIZENS, AND ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT CAMPAIGNS

While many long-time citizens might feel removed from the issue of regularization (see previous story in link below), the plight of migrant workers if unresolved creates a ripple effect in Canada’s fragile healthcare sector.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the population of Canadians ages 65 and older is expected to grow by 68 percent in the next 20 years. Canada’s general population is expected to grow by 2.1 times by 2037 and those ages 75 and up are expected to number around 10.4 million.

Filipino permanent residents, citizens and organizations are encouraged to attend discussions to support and figure out what must be done to support our already exhausted healthcare workers to fix this crisis and thereby save the future of our healthcare system.

RELATED STORIES & SOURCES

McGill University November 2019 Study on the Global Shortage of Nurses:
https://www.mcgill.ca/nursing/files/nursing/nurse_shortages.pdf

Healthy Debate: How long is too long? Assessing wait times in Canadian EDs
https://healthydebate.ca/2020/09/topic/assessing-wait-times-in-canadian-eds/

Quebec’s Bill 96: Language law creates barriers to immigrant, indigenous, other groups
https://philippinereporter.com/index.php/2022/07/22/quebec-s-bill-96-language-law-creates-barriers-to-immigrant-indigenous-other-groups/

Nurses say Supervised Practice Program is ‘a good move’
https://philippinereporter.com/index.php/2022/04/22/nurses-say-supervised-practice-program-is-a-good-move/

Asian Heritage Month 2022…by the numbers
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/dai/smr08/2022/smr08_262

A labour market snapshot of South Asian, Chinese and Filipino Canadians during the pandemic
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210521/dq210521b-eng.htm

April 2021 Statistics Canada Chart: Filipino Canadians most likely to work in the health care and social assistance industry
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210521/cg-b003-eng.htm

Despite more doctors, many Canadians don’t have a family physician: report
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/despite-more-doctors-many-canadians-don-t-have-a-family-physician-report-1.4611149

The Effect of Wait Times on Mortality in Canada May 2021
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/effect-of-wait-times-on-mortality-in-canada.pdf

2,452 B.C health-care workers fired for not getting COVID vaccination
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/02/24/bc-health-care-workers-fired-covid-vaccination/

The Hidden Side of the Vaccine Passport Debate
https://philippinereporter.com/index.php/2021/12/03/the-hidden-side-of-the-vaccine-passport-debate/

Vaccine victims speak up
https://philippinereporter.com/index.php/2021/12/03/vaccine-victims-speak-up/

Inflation rises again, to new 39-year high of 8.1%
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-inflation-rate-1.6526060

Depressed and burned out, Ontario nurses planning to leave the field in droves, poll finds
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-nurses-planning-to-leave-the-field-in-droves-poll-finds