Playing an absolutely vital role in the province’s multi-billion dollar health-care system, Alberta’s nurses are critical to the health and well-being of residents of all ages in all communities.
At the same time, nurses face some of the most stressful and sometimes dangerous work environments of any profession operating in Alberta and indeed across Canada.
As such, those same nurses should and must be supported in the fullest possible way by the provincial government.
Unfortunately, Alberta nurses’ repeated calls to be included in presumptive coverage for psychological injuries by Workers’ Compensation have so far gone unanswered.
“Through the nature of their work, nurses are routinely exposed to traumatic events in the workplace,” said longtime United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) president Heather Smith.
“Nurses should not be forced to wait for, or be denied, access to Workers’ Compensation benefits after experiencing traumatic events while on the job.”
The 35,000-member UNA says nurses working on the frontline of health care should be included with other first responders such as police officers, paramedics and firefighters in not having to prove a causal link to post-traumatic stress disorder and workplace incidents to receive coverage.
“The only obvious difference is that the professions that receive presumptive coverage are dominated by men, while in the nursing profession a majority of practitioners are women,” said UNA second vice-president Cameron Westhead.
“UNA has been pushing for front-line nurses to be included in presumptive coverage for years. We won’t rest until this discriminatory omission is eliminated.”
With Alberta’s population continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, including in the towns, villages and counties in this district, the pressure on the province’s nurses continues to increase.
As such, support for those same health care professionals must be updated and enhanced.
The Smith government should act to address this issue without further delay – both as a show of respect for the vital work thousands of nurses are doing every day in this province and because it is the right thing to do.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
