Michelle DaCruz
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 12/02) - Talking about the shortage of health care workers in terms of numbers and salary increases is one thing, but these five Stanton Regional Hospital specialists describe what it is really like to work on health care's front lines.

Local 11 of the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) -- made up of Stanton Regional Hospital workers -- is asking the entire membership to reject the tentative agreement reached between their union leadership and the employer, the GNWT.

The ratification votes are scheduled to take place over the next few days throughout the NWT and ballots will be counted by the end of June.

"We recognize the seriousness of this request, however, we feel we have no other choice," said Suzette Montreuil, president of Local 11.

Marcia Campbell:

Mammographer for nine years

The wait list for a mammogram is three to four months. There are only two of us on staff who can perform mammography and my colleague has been on maternity leave since September.

The hospital started recruiting in April 2001 for a replacement. We had one interested party, but because human resources is so busy, by the time they called her she had another job.

I don't do overtime for mammography but we are short one radiology technician so I am on call one to two nights a week. Sometimes I worked nights and then have to work my day shift.

Recently I was injured and off on crutches for almost three weeks. All appointments were cancelled and I had to come back before I was fully healed. Year to date I have 170 hours of overtime banked.

I get job offers weekly with more money and signing bonuses.

Dawn Doig:

Audiologist since 2000

These have been the two most stressful years of my life. The hospital has lost their last two audiologists to burnout.

At one time I was seeing up to 12 patients a day. Recently I clamped down and said I am only seeing seven a day and urgent cases, should they arise.

I cover all of the NWT and western Nunavut. I travelled 52 days last year.

Everyone who gets a hearing aid in the NWT comes to me.

How can we fill the department vacancy when in Alberta audiologists only see six to eight adult clients a day. Here we administer every hearing test available, and to all age groups.

Clinics in Alberta are offering almost $10,000 more than the GNWT. If they changed the salaries and benefits we would have someone here tomorrow.

Sandra Mann:

Physiotherapist since 1991

I don't work a lot of overtime, but clients go unseen and their paperwork piles up. The wait times are up to 30 weeks for the average person with a broken ankle. When you wait that long the problem can go away or become chronic.

We have been short positions since December 1999. At the worst we were short 5.3 workers. Next week we will have one vacant position left to be filled, but the bottom line is our salaries are not competitive any more.

Physiotherapists in Alberta make almost the same as we do.

Glen Whiteway:

Pharmacist since 1998

Stanton has had 10 pharmacists over the last 13 years. The last pharmacist started in July 2000 and it took 11 months to hire him. Until they found him I worked alone. I spent over 4,500 hours on call during that time and worked every weekend.

During these months, from September 1999 to July 2000, I was the only hospital pharmacist in the whole territory. We fill every prescribed drug, for both in-patients and out-patients, including chemotherapy and dialysis drugs.

I think we need three to be fully staffed, but the hospital thinks we need only two.

Another problem is five years ago our salaries were competitive with Alberta and the private drug stores in town. Now they aren't. Pharmacy students are asking for 40 per cent more than what the GNWT is offering.

Gayla Wick:

Certified Nursing Assistant in emergency full-time since 1993

Last year I cashed out 150 overtime hours, and I have another 150 left.

"We should have two half-hour lunch breaks and two coffee breaks. There are nights when we get only a 10-minute supper break. That is just the way it is. You can't leave your co-workers alone for longer than that.

There is a lot of burnout.

When I go on vacation in July I'm not going to stay in town like usual. I'm getting out of town or my phone will be ringing off the hook.

Both my husband and I had our fathers die about the same time. We couldn't afford to go to the funeral. Recently my mother's leg was amputated and again I couldn't go to see her.

My salary is actually competitive but I am willing to go south because the cost of living is lower and I will have a better quality of life because I will be closer to my family.