Michelle DaCruz
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 08/01) - The future of the nursing profession in this country is still in crisis, according to the president of the Canadian Nursing Association.

In a speech at the territorial nurses association's annual meeting, Ginette Lemire Rodger called on the federal government to act quickly to repair the damage that has already been done to the profession.

Rodger served as president-elect of the CNA since 1998, and was elected president in June 2000. She holds a PhD in nursing from the University of Alberta and is currently chief of nursing for the Ottawa Hospital, where she oversees 3,500 nurses.

"The current publicly-funded Canadian health care system is robust," said Rodger. "Even though it needs redirection, it is a good base."

The benefits of private for profit health care are a myth, she said, and will dismantle the system we have.

In the long run the current system is sustainable if we have a healthy nursing population.

"Nurses are the most injured people in Canada. On average, Canadians lose 6.2 days a year to illness and injury," said Rodger. "Nurses lose 15.5 days."

Also more funding is needed to increase the number of seats available in nursing programs across the country.

"We used to graduate 10,000 nurses a year in Canada, now we are down to 5,000," said Rodger. "It is not because young people are not interested in nursing, it is because governments have removed funding from those seats. Last year we had to refuse thousands of good candidates."

A primary health care model is the best framework to reform the Canadian system for the future, said Rodger.

For instance, placing more value on low technology, the knowledge and skills of people instead of costly equipment, public participation, and health promotion and prevention of disease.

"The system should be grounded in health not illness," said Rodger. "You have to invest in prevention of disease, because it is much costlier to cure it."

According to Rodger, the NWT is already employing this model, especially in communities, by using low technology and public input.

"The challenge for the NWT now is to legalize the polices that already exist and provide framework for nurses to move ahead," said Rodger.

Sylvia Stard, president of the NWT Registered Nurses Association, said the territorial government is working toward amending the Nursing Profession Act by the end of the year.

The new act will legislate the nurse practitioner training program, and also amend the Pharmacy Act so that the first graduates from the Aurora college Nursing Practitioner program will be able to practice in the territory and write prescriptions.

Recruitment of nurses, said Stard, continues to be a problem in the North, and the territorial government is working with the association to alleviate these shortages.

"The different health boards have tried to recruit separately in the past. This would create competition between the boards," said Stard. "Now, under Minister Miltenberger's action plan, we are working toward having the government of the NWT as our employer, as opposed to a particular board."