Treatment of colleagues during pandemic 'disrespectful,' retired Manitoba nurse says at rally
CBC
Kim Fraser hung up her nursing scrubs for good last year, but she's struggling to shake her guilt.
The retired nurse from Winnipeg, who devoted four decades to the profession, paused when asked how tough it was to walk away, while others on the front lines of a health-care system strained by the COVID-19 pandemic keep working.
"I still feel for them," Fraser said, fighting back tears.
"I have so many friends [working] in ICU. I have friends that have been deployed from their jobs since November of last year with no end in sight. It's frustrating. It's hurtful. It's disrespectful."
Fraser was part of a rally on the steps of the Manitoba Legislature Friday, as nurses across the country marked a national day of action to address staffing shortages and poor working conditions in hospitals.
She was a practising pediatric nurse until last December, when she became fed up with having to shift units and the toll of the pandemic's third wave.
"I had to fight for PPE," she said.
