On-reserve NP a first
For the first time ever, Sudbury’s Wahnapitae First Nation has hired a full-time NP. “There was always a health centre here, and they did have some nurse practitioners who would come out on a contract basis,” says Rebecca Foreshew, the new primary care NP who will serve the community located within the city boundaries of Greater Sudbury. Foreshew previously worked at Health Sciences North and is now practising out of the reserve’s Norman Recollet Health Centre. She collaborates with the centre’s foot-care nurse and community wellness worker. “I’m the only nurse practitioner and there is no collaborating physician,” she explains. “You don’t necessarily need a collaborating physician, except when you need to order a CT or MRI, but a lot of the time the patient would be under specialist care at that point anyway.” Foreshew, who is originally from Sudbury, has experience working in Indigenous health. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working in remote and rural communities, and I think my end goal was always to work on a reserve,” she says. (The Sudbury Star, Nov. 4)
COVID-19
On March 17, the Ontario government declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19. A week later, it ordered non-essential businesses to close in order to limit the spread of the virus. RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun, who has participated in daily teleconferences and other high-level meetings with the health ministry since January, had been urging these actions for weeks. Grinspun has also been urging the public to stay home and practise social distancing. “That is the only way we can slow the spread…and flatten the curve, so that the system doesn’t crumble in front of us,” she said (see various media interviews HERE). Communication has been vital at this challenging time, and Grinspun has been sending daily update reports to all members, Best Practice Spotlight Organizations (BPSO), and other stakeholder groups with up-to-the-minute information from local, national and international sources. These updates are now being offered on a blog. RNAO has also mobilized RNs, NPs and nursing students’ knowledge and skills to confront the outbreak through VIANurse.
Wellington chapter welcomes CEO
RNAO’s Wellington Chapter President Heather Sutcliffe was one of several members to speak with Rogers TV for its coverage of the association’s Fall Tour stop in Guelph Oct. 30. The tour, she says, which is now in its fifth year, is a great way to meet with members and hear from RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun, who was invited to discuss nursing and health issues chapter members feel are most relevant for their community. “It was really important for me to be here…to listen to the CEO of our organization talk about the influence and impact that RNAO has in our rapidly changing health system,” she says. RNAO Region 4 board representative Anita Tsang-Sit also appeared on the broadcast, saying the tour is an opportunity for RNAO executive to update on its ongoing advocacy work. It allows board members “…to go out to the community and get to know our nursing colleagues: registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students.” (Oct. 30)
Find out more about the other Fall Tour stops at RNJ.RNAO.ca/falltour
Nurse comes to the rescue
When Ottawa runner Rob Meredith collapsed in front of the U.S. Embassy with a little more than five kilometres left in his half marathon, Cornwall NP Marian Watt knew she needed to help. “I saw this gentleman across the street and he looked quite wobbly. He appeared to be leaning on a garbage can and he had difficulty standing up,” Watt recalls. After calling a police officer to come, she rushed to help him, encouraging him to remain calm as he fought to stay conscious. “What I remember very starkly was a very wonderful voice and a very calming influence who said: ‘We’re going to get you help, you’re going to be OK,’” Meredith says. Turns out he was suffering from severe dehydration and was overheated. Watt stayed with him until the ambulance arrived, and Meredith says he won’t soon forget what she did. About two months after the event, the pair reunited and Meredith introduced Watt to his wife and two sons. He thanked her again for giving him a new perspective in life, adding he is running again and plans to do a 10 kilometre race next year. “I think it’s wonderful to see Rob and how he’s put a positive spin on it,” Watt says. (CBC News, July 17)
PHOTO: CBC Licensing/Matthew Kupfer
Inquiry releases its report into long-term care homes
After months of anticipation, a public inquiry, called for by RNAO, delivered its recommendations for ensuring the safety and security of residents in the long-term care (LTC) system.
Announced by the government in 2017, the inquiry was prompted by the crimes of former nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer. Over a nine-year period between 2007 and 2016, Wettlaufer killed eight residents at several nursing homes in south-western Ontario by injecting them with insulin.
At a media conference on July 31, inquiry commissioner Justice Eileen Gillese released her report, which contains 91 recommendations that cover measures the Ministry of Health, the College of Nurses of Ontario, home-care service providers, and the Office of the Chief Coroner should adopt.
RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun says the report honours the lives lost and provides a detailed plan of improvements needed to overhaul the sector. It exposes systemic issues that made it possible for Wettlaufer to get hired by an LTC home even though she had been fired from her first nursing job at a hospital after stealing narcotics and using them to try to kill herself. It calls for a requirement that homes adopt better hiring and screening practices, including background checks and improved training with respect to hiring and discipline. And it urges the ministry of health to increase the number of registered nursing staff in LTC homes by conducting a study and publicly releasing the results by July 31, 2020.
“We have long said that regulated staff must be increased in long-term care. It is the only way we can ensure dignified, safe and quality care,” says Grinspun.
RNAO was also pleased to see a recommendation that the government “encourage, recognize, and financially reward long-term care homes that have demonstrated improvements in the wellness and quality of life of their residents.” Grinspun says this addresses a major concern of nurses and nursing home operators. Currently, the government cuts funding to LTC facilities when resident care complexity decreases as a result of implementing best practices. This is because, as residents experience less pressure injuries, fewer falls, and overall improved health outcomes, a facility’s case mix index (CMI) decreases. Since CMI is what is used mainly by government to allocate funding, the overall funding decreases. RNAO says this kind of perverse logic actually discourages some home operators from improving quality of care.
RNAO was granted standing at the inquiry, and was represented by Christine Mainville, Lauren Binhammer and Gabriel Edelson, lawyers with Henein Hutchison LLP.
A platform for a healthy Canada
At its Sept. 11 meeting, RNAO’s board of directors released a list of recommendations it wanted federal parties to make note of as they finalized their policy platforms ahead of the Oct. 21 election. A platform for a healthy Canada outlines nine recommendations, including access to health care, social determinants of health, environmental determinants of health, and fiscal capacity. Now, with a new government in place, RNAO will continue to pursue its priorities.
Expanding Canada’s publicly funded, not-for-profit health system – specifically by setting up a national phamacare program and covering dental care and home-care services – is central to RNAO’s federal platform. Re-establishing a national chief nursing officer to contribute to health policy development and human resource planning is also a key recommendation.
The platform contains four recommendations aimed at improving the health and well-being of Canadians, especially Indigenous Peoples. These include implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People as the framework for reconciliation and ensuring Canada’s laws are in harmony with the declaration. Implementing the “calls to action” of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is another recommendation. RNAO wants the new federal government to ensure sufficient funding and resources to address social, economic and health challenges identified by Indigenous nations, including access to health care, education, adequate housing, and clean water. RNAO is also urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition leaders to respond to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by implementing the inquiry’s calls for justice in its final report.
Given 1.7 million Canadian families are in need of housing, and more than 235,000 lack a permanent home, RNAO is urging a greater focus on and more investments in housing.
The health effects of climate change are always on RNAO’s radar. Nurses are asking the new minority government to work with the opposition parties to establish greenhouse gas emission targets, develop a stronger national carbon pricing framework, phase out fossil subsidies, and provide more funding for public transit and active transportation.
RNAO says its recommendations can be implemented by increasing the federal government’s fiscal capacity. Increasing corporate taxes and making individuals pay their share of taxes will generate the revenue needed to make the investments RNAO says are necessary to create a healthier Canada.
As in years past, RNAO members were actively engaged during the campaign, highlighting elements of the platform during candidates’ debates and forums, and engaging candidates one-on-one in their ridings. See some examples in our election coverage and at #NursesVote on Twitter.
Transgender clinic opens in Kingston
A new health clinic that opened in Kingston in May is breaking down barriers for transgender and intersex patients seeking health care and resources. Thanks to funding from the Local Health Integration Network, and a dedicated space in the Kingston Community Health Centre, RN Heather Geddes, along with a lead physician and colleague in social work, is helping more than 100 patients with a wide range of services, including hormone therapy and referrals for surgical transitions. “We provide a safe and inclusive environment for the transgender community,” says Geddes. “We provide both medical and social aspects of care...including counselling for family and friends if needed.” The clinic also offers free mental health counselling for patients experiencing gender-identity issues. “The thread (through) all of our programs is to help those who need it most, such as supporting clients experiencing poverty, food security issues, adverse childhood experiences, or are a newcomer to Kingston,” says Geddes. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had…You see how happy you’re making people.” (The Kingston Whit-Standard, Aug. 1 and Kingstonist, July 29)
National pharmacare plan benefits all
In light of a national advisory council’s recommendation to implement universal, single-payer public pharmacare in Ontario, RNAO CEO Doris Grinspun spoke to various media outlets about how Canadian employers should get behind the plan as it will solve many challenges around access to prescription drugs. “When you have national pharmacare, you also get better drug pricing on prescription medicines,” Grinspun says. Currently, Canada’s prescription drug coverage model includes dual public and private coverage, while provinces and territories each adhere to individual formularies. From workers’ health to financial outcomes, universal pharmacare will aid all aspects of the workplace, notes Grinspun. “(Employers) should get behind the plan – and the sooner, the better – because then they also have more power and they can work collectively (to) help influence and push for the issue of bulk purchasing…and proper prescribing.” A national pharmacare plan benefits everybody, not just employers or employees, Grinspun adds. (Canadian HR Reporter, Aug. 1)
Raising awareness about hepatitis C
To mark World Hepatitis Day on July 30, RN Dominica Anderson and fellow nursing colleagues set up a booth at Memorial Park in Sudbury to raise awareness and provide screening for the virus. An interim hepatitis C treatment nurse and primary outreach testing nurse with Reseau ACCESS Network, Anderson did the screening with Point of Care, a tool that provides real-time, lab-quality diagnostic results within minutes. “Because hepatitis C is such an easy virus to cure, it’s super important to be tested. It’s easy to diagnose, it’s easy to treat,” says Anderson, who encourages everyone to get tested as part of routine blood work. Hepatitis C is contracted through exposure to infected blood. Tattoos, piercings, acupuncture, unprotected sex where blood is present, sharing needles, organ transplants, and contaminated medical equipment are all possible means of contracting the virus. About 29 million people globally are living with hepatitis C. Many of those with the virus don’t even know they have it, says Anderson. (The Sudbury Star, July 30)
Image source: Material republished with the express permission of: Sudbury Star, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
New course for ICU nurses
To prepare RNs for the intensive care unit (ICU), the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) and Bluewater Health have teamed up to create a new critical-care education course. The course includes lectures, simulations, case studies and skills shadowing. “Not only are nurses receiving the fundamentals, they are provided hands-on experience through case studies in a simulation lab,” says Shane Helgerman, CKHA program director of critical care. Before the course was available locally, nurses in the community were sent to out-of-town workshops and online courses to acquire the necessary skills for working in the ICU. The course is facilitated by professional practice nurses, a registered respiratory therapist, and a stroke co-ordinator, with support from the Neurosurgery Education and Outreach Network. “We hope that by offering the...course, nurses will feel more confident to consider a position in the ICU knowing they will receive the fundamentals of critical care,” says Lisa Regan, the Bluewater Health program director for critical care. (The Chatham Daily News, Aug. 20)
