Sneak Peek at Media Advisory for the Info Pickets

MEDIA ADVISORY

Registered Nurses Protest to Hold Protest on Family Day:
Information pickets will send a message to stop the cuts

WINDSOR - Front-line registered nurses (RNs) will be out in Windsor on Monday, holding information pickets at Windsor Regional Hospital's Metropolitan and Ouellette sites to educate the community about the impact of RN cuts.

"Tomorrow is Family Day," notes Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "What better day for our highly educated, highly skilled and compassionate RNs to speak out against the erosion of high-quality care that will impact patients and their families for years to come?"

Windsor Regional Hospital announced last month that it is cutting 169 RN positions to help balance its budget. The cuts impact almost every program by way of direct layoffs, not filling vacant positions, reduction in care hours, replacing RNs with Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), or the closure of full programs. The affected RNs are due to receive layoff notices on Family Day.

"The message the employer and government are sending is that money matters more than the evidence that shows negative health outcomes for patients when RNs are cut,” says Sue Sommerdyk, Bargaining Unit President. "The government needs to stop sitting silently by as RN care is cut out of our hospitals."

ONA members from Windsor Regional and their supporters will be handing out information leaflets and urging people to sign a petition to stop the cuts. They will picket at the Met site from 9 am to 11 am and the Ouellette site from 1 pm to 3 pm.

"The research confirms what nurses know," says Sommerdyk. "There is a direct link between cutting RNs and an increased risk of patients suffering complications and death. We need the Ontario government to provide adequate funding to all hospitals so these risky and dangerous RN cuts ˗ in Windsor and across the province ˗ will stop. I hope the community will join in the effort."

ONA is the union representing 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

What:   RNs hold information picket to protest RN cuts 

When: Monday, February 15, 2016 from 9 am to 11 am (Metropolitan campus), 1 pm to 3 pm (Ouellette campus)

Where: Metropolitan campus, WIndsor Regional Hospital, 1995 Lens Ave., Ouellette campus, 1030 Ouellette Avenue, Windsor

For more information:              Ontario Nurses’ Association

Sheree Bond                             (416) 964-8833, ext. 2430; cell: (416) 986-8240; shereeb@ona.org

Susan Sommerdyk                    (519) 995-0252