• Place an order, or for other inquiries:
  • 416-923-3567 ext. 3325
  • content@newsmediacanada.ca
  • Home
  • Why CommunityWire
  • How It Works
  • Services & Rates
✕

Academic study released today in Thunder Bay finds Ontario health care staff worked under psychological distress in pandemic, feeling “sacrificed” and violated

1 December 2020
Categories
  • Consumer information
  • Health and Safety
  • Media Release
Tags
  • Ontario Council of Hospital Unions / Canadian Union of Public Employees

THUNDER BAY, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– Working unprotected and facing psychological distress over fears of contracting COVID-19 nurses, personal support workers (PSWs), custodians and other Ontario front-line health care workers felt they were being “sacrificed” by governments, according to a new peer-reviewed study released today in Thunder Bay. As noted in last week’s Auditor General report, the Ontario government did not apply the “precautionary principle” to protect health care workers, the exact same error as during the SARS outbreak. 

Dr. James Brophy and Dr. Margaret Keith, academic researchers affiliated with the University of Windsor led the in-depth, investigative study on health care workers’ experiences in Ontario’s hospitals and long-term care homes. Pervasive throughout the extensive interviews was “the knowledge that these workers know that they are at increased risk of infection due to lack of protection which resulted in anger, frustration and a sense of violation that may have long-lasting implications,” say the researchers.

The study, Sacrificed: Ontario Health care Workers in the Time of COVID-19, comes as COVID-19 second wave lockdowns begin in key areas of the province and the recent important admission by all levels of public health that the science shows that the Coronavirus can spread through aerosol droplet transmission, not just simple droplet as these agencies initially asserted in the pandemic’s first wave.

The research sheds light on how the systemic weaknesses in Ontario’s health system adversely impacted nurses, personal support workers (PSWs), cleaners and other front-line health care workers in COVID-19 wave one. Co-author Michael Hurley says that “the study findings lead to important recommendations:”

  • raising staffing levels in hospitals and in long term care;
  • legislated protection to allow staff to speak out about conditions at work without reprisal;
  • the urgent need to rebuild a regulatory system that has failed health care workers;
  • providing access to the protective equipment staff require to be safe;
  • greater support from management and access to mental health supports.

“The nurses, PSWs and custodians we did extensive interviews with felt they were being sacrificed by all levels of government that chose to water-down protections because of the lack of masks and other gear leaving them at greater risk of infection,” says Brophy.

Referring to the significantly worse outcomes in for-profit long-term care homes during the pandemic as an indicator of the effects of privatization, the authors said the government must revamp priorities – “away from the profit motive and toward the health and well-being of persons.”

The research was done in collaboration with the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions-Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU-CUPE), based on extensive interviews with 10 health care workers. The study interviews were supplemented by a OCHU-CUPE poll involving 3,000 members about their concerns regarding personal protection. About 91 per cent of those polled said they felt the government had abandoned them.

Keith noted that the predominantly female workforce, which is disproportionately racialized, operates in a toxic environment with alarming levels of physical violence, sexual harassment and verbal abuse. Compounding the problem is a hierarchical workplace culture where management marginalizes workers’ voices and threatens them with reprisals for speaking up.

“The residue for many of these female health care workers is that they feel violated and subjected to much higher risks than they should have been,” Keith says.

The researchers warn that given intrinsic links between working conditions and patient care, the ongoing stress and burnout among healthcare workers is a cause of concern for all Ontarians.

“We all need to pay attention to the pleas of health care workers during this frightening time. Not only does their wellbeing matter, we need to realize that if they are not kept safe and well, they can’t properly care for their patients and residents,” Keith says.

The authors said that although front-line workers were applauded and termed “heroes,” the systemic flaws in the healthcare system leave them unsupported, vulnerable and sacrificed. Sixteen Ontario healthcare workers have died and 9,554 have contracted Covid-19 at work according to government statistics.

-30-

For more information:

Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications, syeadon@cupe.ca, 416-559-9300
Zaid Noorsumar, CUPE Communications, znoorsumar@cupe.ca, 647-995-9859

Share

Submit Your News

EVENTS CALENDAR

  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE to hold a rally for Wood Buffalo municipal workers
    23 March 2023
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE to hold a rally for Wood Buffalo municipal workers
    22 March 2023
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: CUPE Alberta convention opens today in Fort McMurray
    22 March 2023

RECENT RELEASES

  • Tri-Board school transportation workers ready to strike on April 3, if necessary
    20 March 2023
  • CUPE 255 municipal workers donate $12,000 to local charities
    14 March 2023
  • https://home.farmmedia.com/
    A Decade of Leadership for Women in Agriculture
    Recognising the contribution that women have made in the ag and food sector
    8 March 2023
  • MNP Mentors Advance Women Entrepreneurship in Canada as Part of the DELIA Project
    8 March 2023
  • L’Association canadienne de sécurité agricole lance un nouveau Centre de ressources sur la santé mentale
    8 March 2023

CATEGORIES

Be seen where the audience is looking
News Media Canada
365 Bloor Street East, 3rd Floor
Toronto, Ontario MrW 3L4

416-923-3567 or toll-free 1-877-305-2262
content@newsmediacanada.ca

© Copyright 2023 News Media Canada. All rights reserved.