CARING HANDS DESERVE BETTER WAGES
Quality care is built on relationships. The work done in long-term care and community-based care is highly personal and demanding. However, the people who take care of our most vulnerable Nova Scotians, mostly women, don’t receive fair wages.
For decades, the government has imposed a wage freeze or an increase far below the rate of inflation. Many workers in these sectors must work two jobs, work at more than one facility, or work overtime, just to get by.
There are hundreds of job vacancies right now for continuing care assistants (CCA) and licensed practical nurses (LPN) in Nova Scotia. Premier Houston has made a commitment to fill those vacancies, and to hire an additional 1,000 CCAs. But why would anyone want to work in Nova Scotia, knowing the provincial government denies us fair wages, benefits and pensions; attacks unions; and cuts public services?
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RESIDENTS DESERVE MORE CARING HANDS
Stories of insufficient numbers of staff, resulting in an inability to meet many of the basic needs of residents, have become all too common. We believe immediate action is needed by the provincial government to increase staffing levels to provide the care needed by Nova Scotians living in long-term care and community-based care.
Workers face unmanageable workloads and regularly go home feeling “defeated” because they’re unable to deliver the kind of care they want to provide. Most employers “mandate” staff to work overtime and leave the first sick-call unfilled, so staff are working shorthanded. These practices are unsustainable and are causing burnout, injuries, workers leaving the sector, and a serious obstacle to new workers entering the system.
In nursing homes, a minimum of 4.1 direct care hours, per resident per day, is needed to meet the basic needs of residents, and provide a reasonable workload for staff.
WE’RE PART OF HEALTHCARE TOO
Long term care is an “integral” part of the health care continuum. The province must include long term care when developing plans. It’s not a separate piece that should only get the leftover attention and funding after other health care plans are made. The system should deliver health care from birth to end of life, in hospitals and in community-based care and long term care.
LEGISLATE 4.1 HOURS OF CARE PER RESIDENT PER DAY
Please contact your MLA! Ask them to increase wages for workers in long term care and to increase the staff-to-resident ratio to a legislated minimum of 4.1 direct care hours, per resident per day.
Go to MoreCaringHands.ca to find contact information for your MLA and help fix long term care.
Join the conversation online! #NSpoli #DayOfAction
- Download a copy of this flyer
- Téléchargez une copie de cette brochure en français