45 nurses extend contract with Veterans Affairs as P.E.I. struggles with 'widespread vacancies'
CBC
A group of P.E.I. nurses recruited by Veterans Affairs Canada in 2020 to help clear a backlog in disability claims has decided to stay at the department for another two years.
Forty-five nurses have signed contracts to continue at Veteran Affairs, which had originally planned to have the work completed by this month.
The nurses' decision comes as the province's health-care system is struggling with widespread staffing shortages.
Barbara Brookins, president of the P.E.I. Nurses' Union, said the union was not involved in any of the contract negotiations.
Ideally, the nurses would have returned to the provincial system around this time, she said.
"We need them everywhere. We have widespread vacancies throughout the health system," Brookins said.
"We're getting more and more calls where members are calling us and they're being required to work double shifts ... They're doing their own workload, plus more. And so each shift brings its own challenges. And they're coming away from those shifts exhausted."
Brookins said nurses can't take the vacation days they are owed because of the vacancies.
The P.E.I. Nurses' Union said 262 of its members aren't currently holding a nursing position in the province. And Health P.E.I. said 14 per cent of its full-time nursing jobs were vacant as of last month.
Because the 45 nurses had to give up their positions at Health P.E.I. in order to work with Veterans Affairs, Brookins said they aren't committed to return to work with the province.
She said it may not seem like much, but having 45 more nurses would make a "huge" difference.
"There's at least 285 of our members that are eligible to retire. We had looked at that number last year. And because of the pension and the pension indexing, some of them have decided to kind of hang in there until the end of 2022. But at the end of 2022, I'm guessing there's going to be a big exodus," she said.
"We're hoping that UPEI will be graduating a good class for us this year and they'll be coming into the workforce. But there's no guarantee that they're going to arrive before the summer."
Opposition Health Critic Michele Beaton said it isn't shocking the nurses decided to stay on at Veterans Affairs.
High winds and rain caused power outages to hundreds of homes and businesses in Prince County on Saturday.
Northerners will soon see RCMP officers with cameras on their person, as training for the body-worn cameras roll out for Mounties across the country.
Dozens of Indigenous women with a desire to learn how to hunt and to use traditional methods to prepare the animal will meet this weekend for the first-ever all-female deer hunt on Oneida Nation of the Thames territory.
A disgraced real-estate lawyer who this week admitted to pilfering millions in client money to support her and her family's lavish lifestyle was handcuffed in a Toronto courtroom Friday afternoon and marched out by a constable to serve a 20-day sentence for contempt of court, as her husband and mother watched.
A provincial child-care advocacy group says governments need to commit to pushing $10-a-day child care forward in Canada, but a conservative think tank says data shows it isn't working as intended in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Diane Sims has already written her own obituary.
Thirty years after her murder in 1994, Halifax police are still looking for Kimber Leanne Lucas's killer.
When Kevin Campbell took a 1991 Chevy truck in trade at his dealership on Moncton's Salisbury Road in early November, he didn't have it for long.
Quebec mayor says 'one-size-fits-all' language law isn't right for his town where French is thriving
English is not Daniel Côté's first language but he says it's integral to the town he calls home.
As their role in health care continues to grow, nurse practitioners across Canada are looking to Alberta, where nurse practitioners recently formed their own union — but on P.E.I., the nurses' union that represents them says it's doing its job.
As the fallout over fallen buildings in Gore Park continues, Hamilton officials will be turning their attention to other properties.