Kim Barraclough
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 05/99) - Stanton Hospital administrators in Yellowknife recently said farewell to six nurses who packed up and moved south to provinces such as British Columbia, New Brunswick and Alberta.

It's a trend that is adding to a Northern nursing shortage that has been described as a crisis.

"The South is actively recruiting," said Dolly Ablitt, secretary for the Union of Northern Workers Local 11. "They love to have nurses from up here because they're so experienced."

Ablitt said nurses in the North are overworked and constantly facing unsafe conditions. Because of this, they are leaving the North.

Currently, there is a global nursing shortage which makes it hard for Northern nurses to resist lucrative recruitment offers from other jurisdictions.

According to Jason Watt, a community health nurse in Aklavik, nurses who work in Northern communities are suffering from the shortages.

"It's not a good thing for the people, for the practice or for the nurses," said Watt.

At Watt's nursing station in Aklavik, there are usually four nurses. Right now, one of the nurses is out of town and another leaves today.

"Definitely our workload has increased," said Watt.

He said he works from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. plus an average of 64 to 80 hours on call a week. That doesn't include overtime or the amount of extra time he might have to work if he gets called in.

According to Watt, working the hours he's subjected to is unsafe.

"It puts the nurse at risk of losing his or her professional license."

Watt said the $3 million that the Department of Health and Social Services recently allotted to deal with the Northern nursing crisis will help.

"They're finally recognizing it will be a problem that's not going to go away soon," said Watt.

"If they want the nurses and they want the service; then they have to put the money out."

Barbara Wyness, public relations and research officer for the Union of Northern Workers, agreed with Watt on most points, but also said that the threat of physical violence must be addressed.

Nurses often care for those who are emotionally unstable or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This makes it difficult to anticipate what some patients will do.

It becomes even more difficult when the nurse has worked two 12-hour shifts and there is no other staff to call on if a dangerous situation arises.

Ablitt said the Department of Health and Social Services is making headway on recruitment and retention of nurses, but admits there is a long way to go.

"They're working fast, but the shortage is impacting the safety issue," said Ablitt.