Monday, March 6, 2023

Relief

Albert Smith, Local 305 steward, bargaining committee member, and PSW at Park Lane Terrace, provides a glimpse of hope for Ontario’s beleaguered healthcare workers.

I have been a PSW for 13 years now, and I have seen many of my coworkers working themselves to the bone trying to give the best care they can to our residents over those years. Then came COVID and most homes, including ours, lost a lot of employees, causing us to work short many times.

On 3 units we usually had only 2 PSWs for 24 residents. I personally worked on a unit with 24 residents with only having someone help with rounds for 5 years. The rest of the time, I was alone looking after the residents.

Then last year the government increased funding to give more time to care for residents thus creating many full time jobs. Now, there are three PSWs on these units, and I personally have a coworker who is full time. We are now able to give the residents the care they deserve.

I have noticed that the staff and the residents are much happier as they are able to talk to and spend time with the residents without feeling rushed to get everything done. My employer also created full-time bath lines, which has now seen residents getting their baths consistently.

This is a great step forward in healthcare in the long term care setting, which was really struggling over the previous years. I can’t wait to see what comes in the future with more funding coming soon. The future finally looks bright for long term care.

Relief

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