Patient describes stress and tension among nursing staff during Saint John hospital stay
CBC
At 43, Jody Kennedy estimates she's been hospitalized about 16 times for a neuromuscular disease that put an end to her nursing career.
Every one of those visits to the Saint John Regional has deepened her respect and empathy for the nursing staff who work there.
That's why she's speaking out about seeing the system stressed and strained like she's never seen before.
She was also struck by the words that she heard — nurses speaking quietly, one to another, conveying an overall feeling that morale has never been so low.
"One nurse told me that she goes into the bathroom at times and cries and has little panic attacks," said Kennedy.
"Then she pulls herself together and comes back out."
From the time she arrived at the emergency department on Nov. 25 to the time she was released on Dec. 17, Kennedy said she saw nurses run off their feet.
She described them as exasperated, exhausted, and drained.
"I overheard two of them talking and one of them say, 'We're on a sinking ship'."
"And yeah," said Kennedy, "I think a lot of them feel that way."
She said one nurse kept apologizing for not being able to provide the care she felt her patients deserved.
"And I just kept saying, 'You don't need to say sorry. I know it's not your fault..'"
Kennedy said there were days and nights when the nurses seemed so overburdened, she didn't want to ask for help.
That was especially true when her unit was locked down due to a possible COVID-19 exposure.
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.