Hospital Registered Practical Nurses Talk Openly About Pandemic Turmoil, Trauma, and Resilience as Ontario-Wide Polling of 3000 Is Released Sunday May 9, 1 p.m.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hospital-based registered practical nurses (RPNs) in Ontario have worked diligently on the pandemic front lines for nearly 16 months. Behind their stoic façade there are tens of thousands individual stories of inner turmoil, trauma, and resilience.

On the cusp of Nursing Week (May 10-17) RPNs who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE) and SEIU Healthcare will speak with media Sunday (May 9) at 1 p.m. on ZOOM (http://bit.ly/OCHUSEIU-nursingwk) about their personal challenges and experiences working throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

Their unsettling first-person accounts of the impacts on their lives and wellbeing working in hospitals through the pandemic are supported by a CUPE poll of 2650 RPNs from across Ontario and an SEIU survey of 600 of their RPN members. It is the first time such a large number of hospital-based RPNs have been probed about their mental health, morale, workload and how they feel about nursing following grueling months of pandemic work.

The poll and survey findings that open a window into this highly skilled but undervalued female workforce, will be released at Sunday’s media conference. In addition to the provincial results, polling data specific to 800 RPNs working at hospitals in Toronto, Oshawa, Markham, Mississauga/Peel and Peterborough/Lindsay, will also be a focus.

Ontario funding for hospital care is among the lowest in Canada. Today across the province, hospitals are critically short of nurses. The poll and survey results are telling of an increasingly educated RPN workforce that even pre-COVID was dealing with a prolonged period of staff shortages, high acuity patients, heavy workloads, and health and safety risks.

Jointly CUPE and SEIU represent nearly 20,000 hospital-based RPNs among their collective hospital sector membership of about 70,000 who work in hospitals in every part of Ontario.

WHO:	Front-line hospital RPNs with OCHU/CUPE and SEIU Healthcare
	SEIU Healthcare - President, Sharleen Stewart and Jackie Walker, President, Nursing Division
	OCHU/CUPE – President, Michael Hurley and Sharon Richer, Secretary-Treasurer
WHAT:	Media conference May 9, 1 p.m., as part of Nursing Week 2021 (May 10-17) CUPE and SEIU RPNs talk publicly about challenges of pandemic work
	Release of poll/survey of more than 3000 Ontario hospital RPNs (including 800 from Toronto/GTA hospitals) who have worked throughout the COVID-19 crisis
WHERE:	Virtual media conference link: http://bit.ly/OCHUSEIU-nursingwk

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