BCNU Update Magazine October 2017

UPDATE OCTOBER 2017

M A G A Z I N E

WILDFIRE CRISIS NURSES CARE FOR AFFECTED RESIDENTS AMID TRYING CONDITIONS

PLUS

PULL-OUT BCNU POSITION STATEMENT ON HARM REDUCTION

Leadership Conference 2017

BCNU IS

PAVING THE WAY FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

EMPOWERED LEADERS North West region steward liaison Jas Gill, Fraser Valley region OH&S rep Heather Wiens and South Islands region mental health rep Stephanie Spinney are helping to lead BCNU into the future.

PRESCRIPTION HEROIN UNIQUE PROGRAM OFFERS TREATMENT FOR SEVERE ADDICTION | KIDS AND YOUR PENSION IT'S BEST TO PLAN AHEAD | NEW GOVERNMENT MEANS NEW OPPORTUNITIES

SURVEY 2017 WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU.

This fall you'll have the opportunity to provide feedback on your priorities for Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) negotiations. Various topics relating to bargaining will be the subject of this upcoming BCNU survey.

MAKE SURE YOUR VIEWS ARE INCLUDED. Results of the survey will be reported to the union's Provincial Bargaining Conference in January 2018.

YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL INFORMATION MUST BE UP TO DATE.

The survey is set to launch in mid-November. In order to receive notice and access you must have registered on the BCNU member portal and entered your current personal email address.

YOUR CONFIDENTIALITY IS ASSURED. Mustel Group Market Research, a leading opinion and social research firm in BC, will conduct the survey and collect and analyze the data.

Mustel is a Gold Seal certified member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) and strictly adheres to Canadian data handling and privacy laws.

CONTENTS

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VOL 36 NO4

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• OCTOBER 2017 24

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DEPARTMENTS

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HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY

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YOUR PENSION

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COUNCIL PROFILE

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WHO CAN HELP?

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OFF DUTY

UPFRONT

5 CHECK IN Members are making news around BC.

8 PROVINCIAL PRIORITIES First NDP budget is a positive signal for health care.

9 CARING AT CROSSTOWN

23 BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

Heroin assisted treatment is reducing opioid overdose deaths.

Young members inspired

by Barcelona conference.

24 PETS AND PEOPLE

12 TRIED BY FIRE

Students organize BC's first pet fair and human primary care clinic.

Wildfires pushed nurses to the limit.

FEATURE

BCNU POSITION STATEMENT ON HARM REDUCTION PULL-OUT p. 9

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COVER PHOTO: PETER HOLST

PAVING THE WAY Leadership conference brings together activists and change makers to help steer BCNU's path to success.

UPDATE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

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UPDATE M A G A Z I N E

MISSION STATEMENT The British Columbia Nurses’ Union protects and advances the health, social and economic well-being of our members, our profession and our communities.

BCNU UPDATE is published by the BC Nurses’ Union, an independent Canadian union governed by a council elected by our 47,000 members. Signed articles do not necessarily represent official BCNU policies.

EDITOR Lew MacDonald CONTRIBUTORS Juliet Chang, Laura Comuzzi, Sharon Costello, David Cubberley, Kath Kitts, Shawn Leclair, Courtney McGillion, Umar Sheikh, Christine Sorensen, Dan Tatroff PHOTOS Sharon Costello, David Cubberley, Kath Kitts, Shawn Leclair, Lew MacDonald CONTACT US BCNU Communications Department 4060 Regent Street Burnaby, BC, V5C 6P5 PHONE 604.433.2268 TOLL FREE 1.800.663.9991 FAX 604.433.7945 TOLL FREE FAX 1.888.284.2222 BCNU WEBSITE www.bcnu.org EMAIL EDITOR lmacdonald@bcnu.org MOVING? Please send change of address to membership@bcnu.org Publications Mail Agreement 40834030 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to BCNU 4060 Regent Street Burnaby, BC, V5C 6P5

CHECK YOUR PAYSTUB!

KAMLOOPS HOSTS ER NURSES’ CONFERENCE Some 80 nurses and nursing students attended this year’s ER nurses’ conference in Kamloops on Sept. 15 and 17. BCNU was a provincial sponsor, and Thompson North Okanagan region chair Tracy Quewezance, along with Royal Inland Hospital steward Mona Hinds, were there to talk with nurses about the union’s violence-prevention campaign and familiarized them with BCNU’s equity-seeking caucus groups.

Do you review your paystubs or throw them in a shoebox?

If it’s the latter you could be missing out on pay. The Nurses’ Bargaining Association contract provides for the following: • Article 53: You get a qualification differential for credentials such as a BSN or Master’s degree.

• Article 57: Community nurses receive a car allowance of $0.52 per kilometre and $50 per month.

• Appendix M: You receive $50 a month for working in specialty areas (ER, ICU, OR/PARR) • Article 12: Your pay increments move up to the next step on the anniversary date you are hired into a regular position.

Please check your pay stubs for accuracy and contact your steward if you think you have missed pay or are you unsure if you are receiving the correct benefit under the above in contract language.

CHECK IN

NEWS FROM AROUND THE PROVINCE

FUN AT THE FAIR BCNU volunteers were on hand at this year’s Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver to educate the public about the importance of nurses and the need for safe patient care. Back row (l-r): Lolita Haiduk, Cayla Sallstrom, Eliza Lorenzo, Jessica Hartle, Vancouver Metro region lobby coordinator Brooke Raphael and Janice Stevens. Sitting: Shelley Knowles and Heather Mildvan.

PNE

TALKING HEALTH CARE AT THE FAIR

FOND FAREWELL This year BCNU said goodbye to many council members who will no longer be serving on the union’s top governing body. Some are retiring, while others will continue to be active on their regional executives. The union thanks them for their tireless service and dedication. From left: Lori Pearson, Roni Lokken, Lorne Burkart, Katherine Hamilton, Jonathan Karmazinuk, Lauren Vandergronden and Michelle Sordal.

BCNU’s CAMPAIGN BUS WAS ON HAND AGAIN THIS year during Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition – and nurses made sure to reach out to fair goers when they were there.

BCNU Vancouver Metro region lobby coordinator Brooke Raphael hosted this fun opportunity for nurses to interact with the public and explain how the union supports safe patient care.

“This year’s event was a great success,” says BCNU’s Brooke Raphael. “We brought together nurses from across the province to educate the public on their own health and the important role nurses play in the health-care system.

I encourage others to mark their calendars and volunteer at the fair next August.”

Founded in 1910 and owned by the City of Vancouver, the PNE hosts cultural, sporting and family entertainment events and sees over three million visitors a year.

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CHECK IN NEWS FROM AROUND THE PROVINCE

INDEPENDENT BARGAINING

NEW AGREEMENT FOR MEMBERS AT CLBC TWENTY FULL-TIME AND CASUAL NURSES working at Community Living BC’s Provincial Assessment Centre (CLBC) in Burnaby have approved a new five-year agreement that includes a process to address the wage gap with health-sector nurses. The gap has now grown to the point where it is increasingly difficult to keep the centre properly staffed.

The agreement commits CLBC to an independent review of the challenges faced in recruiting nurses due to differences in compensation and work opportunities relative to health-sector nurses. The mandated review of wages and working conditions mirrors a settlement BCNU achieved for public service nurses earlier this summer.

FIRST CONTRACT FOR NANAIMO SENIORS VILLAGE BCNU members working at Nanaimo Seniors Village have successfully negotiated a first collective agreement that covers 16 nurses working at the facility.

The contract, which was ratified Aug. 31, runs from Sept.

1, 2014 to Aug. 31, 2019.

It includes language that revises scheduling from 11.5to 7.5-hour shifts, introduces seniority based on date of hire, helps prevent contracting out and addresses non-discrimination, harassment and respectful

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workplace concerns.

Monetary gains include an additional week of annual vacation, sick leave increases, the introduction of evening and weekend premiums, increased wage step increments based on hours of service and a general wage increase of 4.5 percent effective immediately, with a further raise of 1.5 percent starting Sept. 1, 2018.

Nanaimo Seniors Village is owned and operated by Retirement Concepts. The care home houses 150 residents.

OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

SUCCESSFUL RATIFICATION Nurses working at Community Living BC’s Provincial Assessment Centre voted in favour of a new contract that brings their wages closer to those in the Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement. From left: Lynda Chew, Melissa Clint and Lubna Bashir.

“We expect this to address the barriers to recruiting new nurses to work at the PAC, including the wage gap,” says Melissa Clint, who was part of the negotiating team. “We provide intensive care to a complex clientele with both a developmental disability and a mental health or behavioural disorder. So it can be a tough sell to attract nurses if the pay isn’t comparable,” she explains.

“The work itself is challenging and with the growing wage gap, it’s getting harder to find nurses willing to take on this work, especially as casuals,” reports Clint. “We’re hopeful this process will move us towards solutions, so we can again function at full capacity.”

The agreement, which runs from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019, follows the provincial wage mandate of 5.5 percent over five years, plus four possible economic stability dividends. Two dividends have been paid to date, raising the value of the

contract over five years to 6.3 percent. Further dividends are possible in 2018 and 2019, if BC’s annual growth rate continues to exceed forecast levels.

The new agreement also aligns wage increase dates with those in the health sector, and introduces a new nine-step wage grid with increments every 12 months rather than every 18.

Additionally, it establishes portability of seniority for new hires, which should make recruitment into the sector more attractive.

Other monetary benefits include a lift to $300 in the contribution toward nurses’ annual licensing fees, effective April 1, 2017, an increase of special leave to two days as of April 1, 2017 and increases to shift differentials and recruitment and retention bonuses.

The employer has also committed to reviewing its Attendance Management Program with a view to updating and simplifying current procedures. •

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BCNU PRIDE!

THIS SUMMER SAW TOWNS AND CITIES ACROSS THE province come together at events in support of their lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, two-spirited, intersex, asexual (LGBTQ2IA) communities. And nurses were there to show that they are proud to be a part of, and care for, these community members.

One of the highlights of 2017 was the first ever Pride Parade held in Kamloops (on Aug. 20). The event came almost 40 years after the inaugural Vancouver Pride Parade. Hundreds of people took to the streets while hundreds more cheered them on from downtown sidewalks.

BCNU members were also on hand for Pride celebrations on Haida Gwaii, held Aug. 13, in Masset. “Over 100 community members attended with 57 BCNU violence-prevention campaign cards being signed,” reports BCNU North West region chair Teri Forster.

“A very successful event for a community of less than 500 people.”

This year also saw the BCNU bus again lead union participants during Vancouver’s Aug. 9 Pride event.

Read our interview with BCNU LGBTQ caucus chair Hanna Embree on page 26. •

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THE PEOPLE 1. Haida Gwaii residents celebrated Pride on Aug. 13 and BCNU members were there for the festivities. From left: Kirsten Hood, Jenn Chow, BCNU North West region chair Teri Forster, Anna Loiskandl, Marilyn Tovar and Daniel Binnema. 2. BCNU LGBTQ caucus chair and North East region treasurer Hanna Embree (left) is joined by member Dan Arrowsmith, his daughter Kyra, partner Tracy and fellow member Jennia Poburan at Prince George's July 8 Pride parade. 3. BCNU South Islands region executive

members Jessica Celeste, Leanne Robertson-Weeds and Stephanie Spinney snap a selfie during Victoria’s July 9 Pride celebrations. 4. BCNU showed a strong presence at Kamloops' first annual Pride parade on Aug. 20. From left: Tanya Johnson, Debra Moorhouse, Carmalita Bond with daughter Sydney, Suzanne Bruce, Lisa Noble and Nadine Moerike.

5. Members Linda Yang and Marissa Dionne join BCNU South Fraser Valley region co-chair Walter Lumamba during Surrey’s June 25 Pride celebrations.

UPDATE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

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PRIORITIZING HEALTH CARE Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix met recently with BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen to learn about issues affecting BC nurses.

BC ELECTION 2017

NEW GOVERNMENT BRINGS NEW OPPORTUNITIES BC’s NEW NDP GOVERNMENT HAS charted a fiscal course that commits to investments in health care and social services not seen in almost a generation.

Spending on government programs and services shrank considerably under 16 years of BC Liberal rule, but the results of the May 9 provincial election signaled an end to the party’s hold on power. Although she failed to win a majority of seats in the legislature, Premier Christy Clark nevertheless attempted to form government by tabling a throne speech in June that contained many of the pledges in the NDP and Green parties’ campaign platforms.

In the wake of the election, the NDP and Green caucuses reached an agreement that now sees the NDP consulting and sharing information with the Greens on major policy issues, budgets and legislation in order to secure the latter’s support. This arrangement meant both parties, with a combined majority, were able to bring down the Clark government on a June 29 confidence vote on the throne speech.

An NDP government under Premier John Horgan was sworn in soon after, and Vancouver MLA Adrian Dix was appointed health minister on July 18.

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OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

Dix’s mandate now includes prioritizing the provision of team-based primary care by establishing “urgent family-care centres” across the province, improving rural health services, strengthening services to ensure seniors receive quality care, investing in more paramedics and working to reduce wait times through province-wide waitlist management.

Nurses are the largest group of workers in the health-care system, and the $3.5-billion Nurses’ Bargaining Association provincial contract represents the largest single line item in the $20-billion annual health-care budget. So it’s no surprise that BCNU was one of the first unions Dix sat down with in his new role.

He met with BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen at BCNU’s Burnaby office on August 24 to discuss how the union can cooperate with the health ministry to help address concerns facing nurses and their patients.

The two spoke about a range of issues, including nurse staffing, the importance of honouring the NBA contract, protecting public health care and the role nurses can play in primary health care and within the government’s planned urgent care centres.

Sorensen reminded Dix about NDP MLAs’ campaign pledges to advocate for

violence-free workplaces. She reiterated BCNU’s call for the province to lead a push for amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada that would treat assaults on health-care workers as serious as those on peace officers or transit operators. Sorensen also discussed the need to quickly implement rural and remote recruitment and retention initiatives using the dedicated $2-million fund negotiated during the last round of NBA bargaining, which is designed to help tackle the nurse staffing shortage outside of major urban areas.

“It was a good meeting,” says Sorensen.

“BCNU looks forward to working with the new government in a collaborative solutions-based manner to address the obstacles that directly impact nurses’ ability to deliver safe patient care.”

The NDP’s September 11 budget update clearly reflected many of the party’s campaign priorities and sets a positive tone for health care not seen under the BC Liberals. This includes policies like raising the minimum wage, increasing welfare rates and investing in affordable housing – moves that directly address the social determinants of health.

The government also budgeted $322 million over three years toward a comprehensive response to the province’s opioid overdose crisis that is having a devastating impact on communities and health-care workers struggling with increased workloads and the psychological trauma associated with the situation.

BCNU Treasurer Sharon Sponton says she’s happy the budget update includes a $3.1-billion investment to expand and update health facilities, although she notes more work needs to be done to address the chronic nursing shortage across the province.

The budget update also includes needed investments in seniors’ care and mental-health resources. “We have seen a drop in home support services even as the seniors’ population increases,” says Sponton. “We’ll be working to ensure the new government continues to make BC’s seniors a priority.” •

HARM REDUCTION

CARING AT CROSSTOWN Unique program has the potential to reduce runaway opioid overdose deaths

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UST WHEN IT APPEARS that BC’s opioid overdose crisis can get no worse, the BC Coroner’s Office issues yet another monthly report worse than the one that came before it. There were 978 suspected overdose deaths in BC last year. At the current rate that number will rise to more than 1,500 by the end of 2017.

Despite significant efforts on the part of legislators and public health officials to address the crisis in the year-and-ahalf since the province declared a public health emergency, there is a growing feeling of helplessness as the number of deaths continues to rise.

The costs to the health-care system – both financial and human – are enormous and have yet to be fully measured.

In the meantime, increasing access to harm reduction services has been the primary policy response to the crisis. This effort has largely focused on expanding supervised drug consumption sites and providing naloxone to the public.

Until recently, Vancouver’s Insite supervised consumption facility was the only one of its kind. Now, as the crisis expands beyond BC, the clinic’s harm reduction model is being rapidly adopted in communities across the country. Provinces say that Health Canada approvals for consumption sites can’t happen fast enough, and many communities are setting up sites without waiting for the federal exemption that allows them to operate legally.

CLIENT-FOCUSED David Eisner and Victoria Howson provide life-saving heroin assisted treatment at Vancouver’s Crosstown Clinic.

Unfortunately, it has become clear that as long as the illegal drug supply remains toxic, preventable deaths will continue to occur regardless of the number of supervised consumption facilities that are opened.

Fentanyl is a primary culprit.

According to Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service, the number of illegal drug samples containing fentanyl has doubled every year in Canada since dealers began smuggling a black market version of the prescription painkiller into the country. And the BC Coroners Service says that fentanyl was detected in 81 percent of the 876 suspected drug overdose deaths in the province through the first seven months of 2017.

Safe consumption sites also do nothing to address the persistent problem of those who use drugs alone in private residences, where nearly half of all fatal overdoses occur.

This hard reality has led to a growing call for expanded opioid substitution therapies from methadone through to prescription heroin. Both the BC Centre for Disease Control and the BC Centre on Substance use (BCCSU) have proposed expanded access to safe opioids as an effective way to stop the deaths.

David Eisner has seen first-hand how safe drugs save lives. He works at Crosstown clinic in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Run by Providence Health Care, the facility

UPDATE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

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has the distinction of being the only clinic in North America to offer medical grade heroin (diacetylmorphine) and the legal analgesic hydromorphone within a supervised clinical setting to chronic substance use patients.

“It’s an amazing feeling to work at Crosstown and to actually be able to make a difference,” he says, citing the importance of the heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) the facility provides that allows patients to inject under medical supervision in a controlled environment.

HAT is already used in some European countries and is a cheaper and more effective treatment for problematic heroin use than methadone. Switzerland operates 23 HAT centres throughout the country, and over 40 percent of those who leave HAT enter into an abstinence-based program.

“We've had parents who have begged us to take their child because they don't know what else to do.”

David Eisner

“It’s an essential tool in the addiction toolbox. It’s certainly not the answer to all the problems but it’s another tool for people with opiate use disorder to tap into,” says Eisner of the therapy.

Unlike a supervised consumption site, one of the goals of HAT is to remove patients from the illegal drug market.

Participants receive prescribed heroin as well as social supports, so they will not need to engage in the illegal drug trade to feed their addiction.

“Most of our clients would find themselves in a cycle of waking up, needing to get money, finding drugs, using the drugs, hoping they don’t overdose and die, and then starting the cycle all over

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OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

again,” explains Eisner. “We are able to help them break that cycle and bring some stability into their lives by providing another option to treat their addiction to opioids through non-judgmental, client-focused and team-driven care.”

Victoria Howson has worked at Crosstown for just over a year. She stresses that the facility is about much more than HAT. “With a program like this, clients are not only receiving medication, they’re also receiving assistance from social workers for housing, there’s a dietician to ensure they’re getting adequate nutrition, and we’ve got nurses and social workers providing counselling services while clients are here.”

It’s clear that Crosstown means a lot to Howson personally.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen about three or four clients leave the program successfully,” she says. “They were stabilized to a point to get jobs and then to taper off the medication and to go back into the community working and living successful lives – it’s really great to see.

“A community also forms within the clinic and clients are empowered by watching each other grow,” she explains. “It’s a safe place for them to come. They’ve got regular people like the working staff who really care and are supporting them through their process.”

Howson says that when clients are on the street they are often looked down upon or ridiculed for living the life they do. “So when they come to the clinic they feel normal, for lack of a better word, and that really empowers them to want to change, to get out of the situation they’re in and lead a more fulfilling life.”

At present there are 20 nurses working at Crosstown. There are two shifts a day (07:00 to 15:00 and 15:00 to 23:00) each staffed by four nurses who have the help of two clinic assistants. It’s a multidisciplinary care setting that includes physicians, social workers, dietitians and other care providers. “Things move at a fast pace requiring keen assessments and strong

problem solving skills,” says Eisner.

Crosstown currently serves 149 clients. Close to two thirds are receiving HAT with the remainder receiving hydromorphone. The majority of those clients are individuals who participated in the first Vancouver-based clinical trials designed to assess the long-term effectiveness of HAT. The North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), compared the efficacy of medically prescribed heroin, methadone and hydromorphone. Its conclusions, published in 2009, showed that patients treated with injectable diacetylmorphine were more likely to stay in treatment and to reduce their use of illegal drugs than those treated with oral methadone.

A follow up trial, the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME) tested alternative treatments for people with chronic heroin addiction who were not benefitting sufficiently from heroin replacement therapies such as oral methadone or suboxone. The SALOME trial ended in 2015, and concluded that legal hydromorphone is as good as diacetylmorphine and should be used as an alternative for those who don’t benefit from methadone and other treatments.

Unfortunately, for some patients in the SALOME trial, diacetylmorphine was the only treatment that worked for them, and the end of the study meant they would again be accessing heroin from the street. Providence doctors chose to seek special access through Health Canada in order to be allowed to prescribe diacetylmorphine to these SALOME participants for compassionate use.

It’s estimated that there are approximately 500 people in Vancouver who would qualify for HAT. Unfortunately, the demand for treatment far outstrips the supply.

“We have waitlists already of clients who used to be in the SALOME study; these people have first priority when

there is space,” explains Eisner. “We’ve had individuals come to the clinic and parents who have begged us to take their child because they don’t know what else to do, but unfortunately we just don’t have the physical space to take more clients.”

That could soon change. BC’s new Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy says the province will be using BCCSU recommendations to inform its upcoming overdose action plan and has called on the federal government to consider decriminalizing illicit drugs to effectively deal with the opioid crisis. She has also indicated that the province is committed to expanding the prescription of diacetylmorphine to mitigate the risk of overdose.

Meanwhile, Providence Health Care has announced plans to open a new clinic that will provide hydromorphone at St. Paul’s Hospital. “Hopefully, once they work out the logistics of diacetylmorphine, they’ll add a secondary clinic which will open to serve 50 clients,” says Eisner.

Both Eisner and Howson look forward to continuing their work in the community, and encourage other nurses to consider the direct impact community nursing can have on their patients.

Howson spent years working in acute care but felt unable to adequately pro-

DEADLY DRUG SUPPLY The number of suspected overdose deaths in the province has already surpassed last year’s total.

Between January 1 and June 30, 2017, 780 people died compared to 414 during the same period last year – an 88 percent increase.

Authorities say the huge jump has been caused largely by the continued presence of fentanyl in street drugs.

vide care to drug users in that setting. “I would see them coming into the hospital and the nursing staff didn’t have the education or a background of working with these individuals to really understand them,” she recalls. “There was a lot of judgment happening in the hospital when working with these folks.”

About five years ago she began volunteering at a food truck in the Downtown Eastside in order to help a community that she could see was struggling. “Then I found out through a friend about the program at Crosstown, and because I’m a nurse, I wanted to get more involved,” she recalls.

“I was getting tired of putting BandAids on a lot of situations in the hospital environment,” she reflects. “But when working at Crosstown, I really found that this clinic was client-centred and very successful because of that. So I decided to give it a shot here.”

Eisner trained as a clinical care nurse and worked for 18 years in acute care settings before suffering a back injury.

Three years ago he found himself working at Crosstown through a duty-to-accommodate arrangement.

“I find it a blessing,” he says. “I never worked in the community before, but now I’m working with clients that I used to only see in the ICU ventilated.

Now, to see where they came from and

understand their stories, and to try and help them before they get to that point is just an amazing opportunity. I can’t imagine working anywhere else.”

Howson says she has no regrets about her move to community nursing.

“I’ve met nothing but good, beautiful souls here. They’re beautiful people and most of them are actually quite sensitive,” she says. “I guess that’s a lot of the reason why they’ve gotten into drugs – because they are sensitive souls and have such kind hearts.”

She agrees it’s not a typical therapeutic relationship.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen people so good to each other. Their open heartedness just draws you in. At first it makes you appreciate your own life more but then you appreciate them for how compassionate and kind they are toward one another.”

Howson encourages other nurses to find out more about Crosstown.

“If anyone is curious about the clinic they should come and look at it,” she says. “Nurses can come in and see what the clinic is all about and do a shadow shift. All I ask is for people to open their hearts and their minds because these clients didn’t choose to live a life of addiction. They have succumbed to addiction based on traumas they had in their lives.” •

Drug Overdose Deaths by Month, 2016–2017(2)

Source: BC Coroner’s Service

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TRIED

BY FIRE

BCNU members help their patients despite personal stress from wildfires

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S MASSIVE MUSHROOM clouds of black smoke rose from the thick forest that borders 100 Mile House, local resident and LPN Angela Vincenzi could feel the weight of the looming crisis on her shoulders. It was early July, when the province had just announced a state of emergency due to a staggering number of wildfires burning in BC. While residents fled their homes under evacuation order, the massive undertaking of moving hundreds of patients from local hospitals and longterm care facilities also began, includ-

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ing relocating close to 90 residents at 100 Mile House’s long-term care homes – Mill Site Lodge and Fischer Place – to Kamloops’ Ponderosa Lodge, a twoand-a-half-hour drive away.

Despite the threat the fires posed to their own homes and belongings, Vincenzi put on her nursing hat and sprang into action. She, along with other staff and management at the facility, worked long days and through the night to help make the move easier for the affected residents.

A desire to help, despite the personal stress the wildfires were also causing them, is something Vincenzi says staff

JULY/AUGUST 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

didn’t think twice about.

“In the beginning, when we got word that 100 Mile was under evacuation order, we began moving people to Kamloops immediately, and it took the course of just a couple of days. We didn’t know how long it would be for.

Most of us thought it would only be for a few days,” she says.

In fact, the evacuation order would drag on for just over a month and would mean a comprehensive effort to ensure the safe relocation of close to 90 residents, all with various health needs.

“It was challenging,” she added.

“There was someone who was in

MASSIVE FIRES The unprecedented scale and intensity of this year’s forest fires saw more than 46,000 people displaced from their communities.

“I have never gone through something like this before.

It was organized chaos and a lot of work, but we managed to do it.”

Angela Vincenzi

charge of gathering medication and charts, another was responsible for packing up clothing, and we had to make sure we had a pillow case with each person’s name on them. It was organized chaos and a lot of work but we managed to do it.”

Despite some family members taking some residents home with them to neighbouring communities, the majority ended up being moved to Ponderosa Lodge, which opened its third floor especially for evacuees. The move was hard on the residents, who were forced to live in close quarters with each other.

Vincenzi says there were many times when personalities clashed.

The floor, in addition to housing those from 100 Mile House, was also where many from the nearby community of Clearwater ended up as well, which added to the tensions and at times proved to be very challenging for staff.

“I have never gone through something like this before. At Ponderosa, we had a lot of residents living together and some of their behaviours really clashed. This was difficult and sometimes I would just break down and cry.

“Once you got the hang of it, it was okay. But on top of that, you also had the stress of what was going on in 100Mile and it was very, very stressful.”

Vincenzi, her sister Arlene, Arlene’s husband and her daughter Chanelle all left 100 Mile together. The very thought of what they would eventually return to when the order was lifted clouded Vincenzi’s thoughts as

she worked long days in Kamloops.

In the rush and unpredictability of the exodus, the family would think of things they left behind and wonder if they would see their homes again.

They didn’t return home until early August.

“I just grabbed what I could. I realized after that I didn’t have my home insurance documents or anything, but luckily it worked out okay,” says Vincenzi.

There are many harrowing stories coming from members who were directly impacted by the wildfires in other communities, including from Debera Willis, an Ashcroft resident and nurse who works at the town’s longterm care facility, Jackson House.

Willis was met with a police barricade while driving home from Kamloops one evening. She was told her town was under evacuation order and she wouldn’t be able to go home.

“I explained to the officer I had a dog at home and needed to get him,” she explains. “He said he couldn’t allow it.

I realized then that all I had were the clothes on my back.”

Willis, along with many other colleagues, was moved to the Ramada Inn in Merritt. She was re-acquainted with her dog and immediately turned her attention to the residents of Jackson House who had been transferred to the two long-term care homes in Merritt, Gillis House and the private facility, The Florentine. continued on page 15

UPDATE MAGAZINE • OCTOBER 2017

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DONATE TO THE BRITISH COLUMBIA FIRES APPEAL

WILDFIRE RELIEF

YOUR HELP IS STILL NEEDED!

BCNU Thompson-North Okanagan region chair Tracy Quewezance was one of our many members who volunteered during the wildfire crisis

The Red Cross is supporting the province of British Columbia and local authorities in providing assistance to those affected by the wildfires.

Urgent support is still needed for the more than 46,000 people displaced from their communities. In the aftermath of the fires, donations will assist with re-entry to affected communities and help fund more long-term recovery, resiliency and preparedness.

BCNU has already donated $10,000 to the Red Cross for the wildfire relief, and will be donating additional funds to assist first responders who have been psychologically impacted by the rescue effort.

Members are being encouraged to show their support and do what they can for their fellow nurses who have been affected.

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CNU THOMPSON-NORTH Okanagan region chair Tracy Quewezance was enjoying a family vacation, cut off from TV, Internet and cell service, when the wildfire crisis flared up across BC. After finally catching a media report about the rapidly spreading fires Quewezance immediately realized she needed to return home.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” she recalls. “My region was burning up and I couldn’t get home fast enough.”

After returning to her hometown of Kamloops, Quewezance began working around the clock at the local donation centre and doing whatever she could to assist the tens of thousands of people impacted by what has now been declared the worst wildfire season in BC’s history.

It’s Quewezance’s first experience dealing with a crisis of this magnitude,

their money and even their homes.”

The Kamloops donation centre, organized by two local women who wanted to help, quickly grew into a full-sized operation. Donations poured into the centre, and everything from sheets, towels, bedding, clothing, food and toiletries were carefully organized and distributed to thousands of evacuees.

“Once a day, people were allowed to come and pick up what they needed,” says Quewezance, who notes that, while donations were coming from around the country, the first community to answer the call was Fort McMurray, Alberta, whose residents also endured massive wildfires last year. “They loaded up trucks and drove them here.”

Kamloops quickly became the hub for thousands of evacuees from surrounding communities, including Williams Lake, Ashcroft and 100 Mile

“What has really stood out for me is how people have come together to donate their time, their money and even their homes.”

Thompson-North Okanagan region chair Tracy Quewezance

and while it has proved extremely taxing on many levels, she says she’s also witnessed generosity on a massive scale.

“It’s been amazing, seeing the kindness of people in this community and around BC,” she says. “That’s what a lot of us around here have been hanging on to. Despite all of the bad stuff happening, forests being destroyed, people losing their homes and businesses, what has really stood out for me is how people have come together to donate their time,

House. Luckily, the city wasn’t threatened by wildfires. But the heavy smoke from fires burning nearby was, at times, unbearable and dangerous for those living and working in the community.

“There was a large number of people going to the ER as a result of the smoke,” says Quewezance. “I have asthma and I can feel it in my throat. I also felt for many of our homeless and even evacuees who had to sleep outside in the smoke.”

Photo credit: April Roberts

In addition to an impressive effort on the ground, people across Canada have opened their wallets and donated to the cause, including BCNU, which gave $10,000 to the Canadian Red Cross wildfire relief fund. It also participated in weekly teleconference calls with the Ministry of Health and provided updates on the provincial emergency response plan, and what was being done to assist health-care professionals impacted by the fires.

BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen says the outpouring of offers from members wanting to help does not surprise her.

“It’s what our members do in times of crisis,” says Sorensen. “I’ve heard from so many concerned members from around BC who were willing to drop what they were doing to assist.

And I’ve heard stories that many of our members, who live in fire zones and were evacuated from their homes with just the clothes on their backs, rushed to ensure their patients were safely moved from hospitals and longterm care settings.”

While many people have been allowed to return home, the wildfire threat in this province is far from over. As this issue of Update Magazine goes to print, thousands of hectares continue to burn out of control. Quewezance says they are currently cautiously optimistic, but understand that conditions can change at any moment.

“We will see what the next month brings,” she says. “Experiences like these make you realize what is important in life, because as we’ve seen this summer, it can all be taken away in a second.” •

HARROWING STORY Now back at home, 100 Mile House long-term care nurse Angela Vincenzi says this summer’s evacuation effort was one of the most trying experiences of her career.

TRIED BY FIRE continued from page 13 “The move was chaotic for them,” she explains. “Being in a different environment always comes with its challenges but we made it work the best we could.”

While the two-week stretch in Merritt posed challenges on a professional level, it also took a personal toll on the nurses, who worked long shifts all with the awful question looming over them: what would they return home to?

“You are totally unaware if your home is standing. I have to say that you become numb. You just go into drive and say to yourself, I have to keep my residents safe and the rest is going to be what it is. It’s all about the residents at that time. As a nurse, you don’t really think about yourself.”

“Did we go back to our rooms and cry? Oh yes, we cried. We cried for the people who had lost everything.

You just have mixed emotions that swirl around.”

“I realized then that all I had were the clothes on my back.”

Debera Willis

While life is starting to get back to normal in both 100 Mile House and Ashcroft, there is a long road ahead for thousands of residents who have lived through a trying and stressful summer.

However, there is an underlying optimism that life will get back to normal sooner than later.

“The most amazing thing is that when I’m out walking my dog during the day, I’m seeing the forests already coming back,” says Willis. “The other day, I picked a little branch off a new tree and showed it to one of the residents.

I’ve seen osprey’s taking new branches and building nests. It’s nice to see the rebuild already starting to happen.” •

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FEATURE

PAVING THE WAY

Leadership conference brings together advocates, activists and change makers to help steer BCNU’s path to success.

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t’s a truism that leaders are not born but made. This means we all have the potential to become effective leaders and work with others to achieve our common goals. As a provincial union with over 46,000 members, BCNU has no shortage of leadership potential.

Whether we’re individual members, stewards or representatives on one of our 16 regional executives we all have the ability to effect positive change in our working

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lives and in the lives of our patients.

But even the best group of leaders requires ongoing support, coordination, and inspiration. To this end, BCNU hosted a provincial meeting recently to help ensure that its current – and future – leaders’ potential is fully realized.

Some 200 regional executive members, full-time stewards and others came together this Sept. 13 and 14 in Vancouver for the union’s “Paving the Way for Positive Change” leadership conference.

Over two days, members engaged in a variety of leadership exercises, from learning about leadership styles and what it takes to make great teams, to thinking about power dynamics and how to build our power as union leaders, to working on ways to best engage and empower all BCNU members.

BECOMING LEADERS

BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen welcomed participants on

EFFECTING POSITIVE CHANGE Richard Bernier, Tash Minwalla, Carmalita Bond and Linda Partington explore their leadership potential at BCNU’s recent provincial leadership conference.

opening day by drawing their attention to the leadership journals they received when registering. She set the tone for the conference by asking members to use their journals and the self-reflection questions they contained to help them critically examine themselves as leaders every day.

“The best leaders are self-reflective and self-aware, and leadership development depends on critical self-inquiry,” she said. “Daily self-reflection over time builds our personal capacity to discover what we do well and what we can do better in our leadership roles.”

Sorensen encouraged all members to engage in regular, mindful reflection, and said that this practice leads to better leadership and more positive results over time. “There are many

changes ahead, and we’ll need to use all our leadership talents to safeguard the rights of our members.”

Keynote speaker André Picard kicked off the event by sharing his considerable insights on how organizations can best to use the media to effect change (see story on page 20). The award-winning national columnist, who has written about nursing and other health-care subjects, was well received by conference attendees, all of whom were given a copy of Picard’s most recent book, Matters of Life and Death, which summarizes his views on a range of public health issues in Canada today.

PUSHING FOR HEALTHY CHANGE

BCNU has made implementing the

National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace a top priority in the year ahead. The standard was developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Its goal is to create workplaces in which every effort is made to avoid foreseeable injury to the mental health of employees.

The standard was the focus of a presentation by guest speaker Dr. Merv Gilbert, a clinical psychologist with over twenty years’ experience in direct clinical and leadership roles at regional, provincial and international levels.

Dr. Gilbert began by praising BCNU for successfully negotiating the standard into the Nurses’ Bargaining Association collective agreement during the last round of bargaining. Contract language now states that the Ministry of Health

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FEATURE

direct health authorities to adopt the standard as their own.

“My sincere compliments to BCNU, which, to my knowledge, is the first union to include the standard in bargaining. You are all trailblazers,” he said.

Dr. Gilbert’s presentation included the opportunity for conference attendees to assess their own worksites and discuss what improvements employers could make to address the psychological health of employees. There was also discussion around self-care tools and what individuals can do to cope with their problems effectively.

“In addition to the guidelines in place to ensure worksites are psychologically healthy and safe, it is also important that we take responsibility to care for our-

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen speaks to members about the union’s organizational priorities

selves,” said Gilbert. “Many worksites have first-aid kits in case of injury. But do you know of any worksites that have psychological first-aid kits?”

Dr. Gilbert also explained why it’s important for organizations to pay attention to psychological health and safety, especially those that provide health care.

“Without it, you see staff burnout which can result in poor performance, and we see an impact on patient outcomes,” he said. “Indicators of poor psychological health include high turnover, absenteeism, accident and injury and conflict.”

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The best leaders are selfreflective and self-aware.”

BCNU Acting President Christine Sorensen

the union’s new brand “DNA”, which includes all of the key messages that BCNU now uses when communicating with stakeholders.

Wejr asked nurses to think about how they can help carry BCNU’s brand and encouraged them to review and use BCNU’s new common messaging. “Learn and use BCNU’s brand DNA,” she said.

LEADING CHANGE STRATEGIC PLAN REVIEW

Day two of the conference began with an overview presentation of the union’s strategic plan – which is the map that will be used to guide the direction of the organization over the next three years.

Each member of the provincial executive team took turns speaking in detail about one of the union’s five organizational priorities that make up the plan.

These highlights included member engagement, effective governance, strengthened organizational capacity, professionalism and public health care advocacy.

Later in the day, participants were asked to develop regional innovations that were tied to the provincial plan and report out to the larger group about specific actions they plan to take to help further BCNU’s organizational priorities.

BUILDING OUR PROFESSIONAL UNION IMAGE

It’s been almost three years since BCNU underwent an organizational rebrand (remember the old blue logo?).

It was a major undertaking that continues to evolve.

BCNU’s director of professional practice and policy advisor Patricia Wejr oversaw the project. She took some time to provide conference participants with insights on the process and thinking behind many of the choices that were made to arrive at the union’s new logo and tagline.

“But a brand is more than a logo – it’s the way we represent the organization,” she stressed, before reviewing

Engaging and developing new leaders requires current leaders to recognize the power they possess and use it effectively. BCNU executive councillor for health and safety Adriane Gear led participants in a review of various types of power, and those which can lead to empowering, or disempowering, work environments.

Members participated in group exercises where they were asked to think of how they can engage and empower other members to participate and better inform BCNU-led actions and decisions, and help plot the direction of BCNU. “As union leaders you have the choice to build your own power bases and role model powerful leadership for others,” said Gear. “You also have the choice to empower those around you. Often this can be done in very simple ways, such as saying thank you and showing appreciation for the hard work of the membership and your peers.”

PREPARING FOR CHANGE BCNU Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director Umar Sheikh briefs participants on the union’s preparations for Nurses’ Bargaining Association negotiations next year.

Gear asked participants to reflect on their actions and words and consider their power motivations. “Effective leaders act on behalf of others, not themselves,” she said.

PREPARING FOR CHANGE

BCNU Executive Director Umar Sheikh took time during day two of the conference to review the current state of preparations for the next round of Nurses’ Bargaining Association (NBA) contract negotiations.

He told participants that BCNU will be hosting a series of regional bargaining conferences beginning in October to help identify top priorities among union activists and to discuss bargaining issues that nurses are talking about in their worksites.

The union is also planning a broad

survey of nurses that will identify their priority issues and gauge their willingness to engage in job action to support their goals. The survey will be conducted

by Mustel Group starting mid-November and will poll all nurses registered and up-to-date in BCNU’s member portal.

Sheikh told conference participants that wages will likely be the top issue for many nurses, as the limited gains under the last wage mandate (5.5 percent over five years) don’t fully offset the effects of inflation.

He also reminded delegates that much can be accomplished through bargaining. For starters, he suggested that nurses can stop working for free.

“Think of all the unpaid work that nurses currently do. What if we were to negotiate compensation for every minute of that unpaid work?”

When asked how often they perform

Reach out to the public and remind them of the critical role nurses play.”

BCNU Executive Director Umar Sheikh

unpaid work – such as handovers or skipping lunches – nearly 50 percent of nurses present said it occurs on a daily basis. “That’s a lot of unpaid effort being invested in our health-care system, effort that BCNU thinks should be fairly paid,” he said.

Another avenue negotiators could pursue involves building on language established in the last agreement. As an example, Sheikh pointed to the $2 million for incentives to make it easier

continued on page 22 BREAKOUT SESSION

LEADING CHANGE The beginning of day two saw conference participants engage in group exercises focused on leader empowerment and fostering participation in decision making.

Participants were challenged to identify the best ways to engage members and attract them to participate in BCNU events and activities. Victoria General Hospital full-time steward Patti Pettepiece says that “pulling” information from members often requires a face-to-face approach. “Going to each workplace and taking the time to find out what’s important to members shows that we value their input,” she says. “Walking around and asking people you wouldn’t normally engage with has given me a pretty good idea of what members want.”

West Kootenay region communications secretary Angela Falk agrees that a personal connection is critical. “We usually invite nurses with posters and emails, but we’re finding emails are not very effective,” she reports. “Personal invitations on the unit, personal conversations between nurses, work best – and we want to encourage more feedback from those who do come out.”

Thompson North Okanagan region steward liaison Tracy Musey says that inviting people personally to come to meetings greatly improves engagement.

“Doing more of the outreach one-on-one and making people feel more personally heard is important,” she said. “It’s about asking them more open-ended type questions and asking them what we can do for them.”

All agreed that effective leaders ensure that all members participate more in informing BCNU actions, decisions and plotting the direction of the union. •

TALKING MEMBER ENGAGEMENT Victoria General Hospital full-time steward Patti Pettepiece, West Kootenay region communications secretary Angela Falk and Thompson North Okanagan region steward liaison Tracy Musey.

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FEATURE

It's great to have passion, but you also have to have a point.”

André Picard

MESSAGE MASTER National health-care columnist André Picard offers strategies for activists negotiating today's media landscape.

lay of the land Veteran journalist shares insights on using advocacy and media to accelerate change KEYNOTE SPEAKER ANDRÉ PICARD told participants at BCNU’s “Paving the way for Positive Change” leadership conference that focused advocacy and effective leadership are key factors in changing health-care policy.

However, the seasoned Globe and Mail health columnist also said that, while speaking up for what you believe is essential, message clarity and discipline are also vital if you want your concerns to register with politicians and the public.

“What’s ultimately important is a message that’s clear and concise, repeated frequently in varied ways.”

Picard noted that, more often than not, successful advocacy comes down to good story-telling. “Stories are the best vehicle for delivering messages that are emotionally engaging for

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people. Stories trump data,” he said.

But nurturing relationships and cultivating allies for your cause are equally important “because you can’t do it alone.”

Picard strongly advised grounding the case for change in careful research, and remaining factual when presenting it. “Don’t make sh*t up, because it will come back to haunt you,” he cautioned.

Despite social media’s current popularity, he asserted that “if you really want to change public opinion and sway decision makers, you need to use the mainstream media to get your message out. If you’re on CTV's National, you’re reaching seven million viewers.

If you make the Globe, you have a million readers.

“Media are important because they amplify your voice, but you don’t

always control the message they give.

You may not always get the spin you want out of the story,” he explained.

Picard noted that advocacy groups now often go directly to social media, which he feels is a mistake. “There’s a lot of noise and competition in cyber space, it’s ephemeral and often illogical, so it can be hard to be heard there.

“The single biggest problem today is advocates not knowing what their message is. It’s great to have passion, but you also have to have a point. You need to offer solutions, not just make complaints.”

Picard credited BCNU’s violence-prevention campaign as an effective vehicle that he said would carry even more weight if the rest of Canada’s over 250,000 nurses got on board. The tagline, “Violence. Not part of the job.” is a good example of message clarity, he said.

However, while “media are the key to getting messages through to politicians and the public,” credibility with media is something that has to be built and maintained.

“You have to use facts accurately and efficiently. You need to guard your credibility as advocates, so reporters trust you. You have to be reliable – then you become their go-to call. ” •

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THE LEADERS 1. North West region lobby coordinator Marlee Emery reports back on her executive’s plans for member engagement. 2. BCNU treasurer Sharon Sponton speaks to members about the union’s strategic commitment to support public health care. 3. South Islands region co-chair Margo Wilton (left) and co-chair Lynda Smith (right) chat with UVic students Cedar McMechan and Rachel Wright. 4. Coastal Mountain region mental health advocate Paddy Treavor, professional responsibility advocate Genevieve Dallimore and Coastal Mountain region full-time steward Dan Desmarais chat during a bio break.

5. Indigenous elder Tsawaysia Spukwus welcomes BCNU members on opening day. 6. Shaughnessy Heights region treasurer Sherry Lucchesi, professional responsibility advocate Manpreet Mann and lobby coordinator Baljit Borchert reflect on the values needed for effective leadership. 7. Simon Fraser region communications secretary Tristan Newby reports out on his region’s action plan for 2018. 8. Thompson North Okanagan region mental health representative Carmalita Bond connects with Pacific Rim region chair Rachel Kimler during a break. 9. Metro Vancouver region chair Megan Friesen provides her input on NBA bargaining priorities. 10. BCNU director of professional practice and policy advisor Patricia Wejr talks about the importance of an organizational brand.

11. Central Vancouver region co-chair Marlene Goertzen and full-time steward Laura Alasaly report back on their group’s exercise on implementing BCNU’s strategic plan at the local level. 12. Fraser Valley region executive members Heather Weins, Ravi Kocher, Nicole Hande and Tracey Greenberg discuss vision and values during a breakout session.

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FEATURE

BREAKOUT SESSION

BRINGING IT HOME Day two of the conference saw participants engage in a regional planning exercise led by BCNU project manager Linnea Kubik. Regions reviewed the BCNU strategic plan before brainstorming about specific actions they could take to help implement the plan at the local level. The main focus was on BCNU’s fall 2017 priorities, which include preparing for bargaining, continued promotion of the provincial violence-prevention campaign, and ensuring that psychological health and safety is promoted in their workplaces.

East Kootenay region members were focused on Nurses’ Bargaining Association bargaining preparation. “We’ll be polling our members to see what their geographical needs are because they are possibly going to be significantly different from the needs of those in Vancouver for example,” said BCNU East Kootenay region lobby coordinator Denise Waurynchuk.

“Because we are so spread out in a large geographical region it’s important that we make sure our members feel like their voices are being heard, so we talked a lot about pushing information out to – and pulling information from – members,” said BCNU East Kootenay region lobby coordinator Gina Neumann. “And since we are quite small it’s also important that we bring our voices forward as a rural region so that the lower mainland doesn’t overshadow the needs and wants of the rest of the province.”

All regions were asked to submit their local action plans containing three specific goals by November 1. •

PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AND SAFETY Dr. Merv Gilbert congratulates BCNU for being the first union to negotiate the National Workplace Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the workplace into its provincial collective agreement.

PAVING THE WAY continued from page 19 for nurses to choose to work in rural and remote settings, where problems of recruitment and retention are ongoing. “We can build on that by expanding the amount of money that’s available, to make it more attractive to people to go north and work in rural care delivery.”

Earlier in the conference, Sheikh talked to delegates about the precarious and challenging minority government situation in BC, and the possible impact it could have on the twists and turns along the way toward a final NBA settlement. “Critical to our success will be nurses’ willingness to talk about their issues,” he said, “and to reach out to the public and MLAs from every party and remind them of the critical role nurses play in providing health care for all British Columbians.”

GETTING SPECIFIC

PLANNING FOR ACTION! East Kootenay regional executive members Denise Waurynchuk and Gina Neumann.

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Members spent the remainder of the conference developing action plans informed by what they learned over the previous two days. Areas of focus included bargaining preparation, violence prevention, and psychologically healthy and safe workplaces.

Participants were asked to develop three regional goals, each with an action plan, by Nov. 1.

Several teams shared some of their action plan ideas with the rest of the room, and all members were able to engage in discussion on how best to implement their priorities.

The breadth of issues addressed at the conference meant that all the leaders present were able to contribute and learn about strategic priorities that were important to them personally.

“I found the mental health aspect of this conference was the most informative and helpful,” reported Thompson North Okanagan region mental health rep Carmalita Bond. “It’s important we get this issue addressed in every workplace and look at how we can help ourselves and our colleagues.”

Others were happy to gain a better sense of the “big picture” while participating in practical leadership-building exercises.

“The thing that sticks out for me is that there is a real sense of direction for the union – I feel that I’m getting more out of this conference than I have at other union events I’ve attended,” remarked North East region mental health rep Laura Baker. “This conference has provided the opportunity to learn how we can guide, support and mentor our new leaders.” •

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE Isabelle Bertrand and Shiwani Gupta (centre) chat with members of the Taiwan Nurses Association during the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress, held in Barcelona in May.

NURSING WEEK CONTEST

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS BARCELONA CONFERENCE GIVES NURSES A UNIQUE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE VANCOUVER’S ISABELLE Bertrand and Shiwani Gupta of Smithers were the lucky winners of this year’s BCNUsponsored National Nursing Week contest.

After being selected from over 100 expressions of interest received during the competition this past spring, the two had the privilege of attending the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Congress in Barcelona, Spain from May 27 to June 1.

Bertrand said it was impossible to choose a highlight.

“The energy of the opening ceremony – which felt like the nursing Olympics – to networking and making friends with nurses from all over the world… .”

Bertrand was delighted to have a coffee with Dr. Jean White (Chief Nursing Officer and Nurse Director of NHS Wales), especially given that an opportunity to hear White speak was something she mentioned in her expression of interest application.

Gupta, who emigrated from India to pursue her education in BC, also found the conference to be beyond her expectations. She said it was more than worth the challenge it took to get there.

“I had to arrange last minute leave from work and more importantly apply for an expedited visa, as I am not yet a Canadian citizen.”

With dozens of presentations to choose from, and a jam-packed schedule, Gupta was able to select plenary sessions relevant to her patient care work. “It was a pleasure to hear from Sir Michael Marmot, (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College, London). In one plenary session open forum, I shared [information about] the rural nursing challenges in Northern Health,” she says, noting the interactive nature of many of the sessions.

Bertrand said that her biggest take-away came from Dr. Linda Aiken

of the University of the Pennsylvania School of Nursing, she talked about her 20-plus years of safe staffing research, and evidence that has shown how a one-patient increase in a nurse’s workload is associated with a seven percent increase in patient mortality.

“The presentation stuck with me because every nurse has horror stories about the consequences of high patient workloads,” said Bertrand.

“Many of us try to communicate just how absolutely dreadful it can be when lines are cut, when new baselines of high patient ratios are created, when we frequently work short and when nurses are replaced with care aides.”

Bertrand said that scientific evidence, such as Aiken’s, combined with her personal experience, make conversations with managers and policy makers easier.

After hearing about the initiatives taken by fellow nurses from all over the

world to improve patient care, Bertrand says that she can't help but feel a drive to become a leader and transform the nursing profession for the better. “It's difficult to describe the feeling of empowerment we collectively felt when the conference was over.”

For Gupta, attending the congress was an eye-opening experience and one she says every nurse should experience at least once. “Definitely apply for any future BCNU expressions of interest,” she says.

Bertrand agrees. “I want to heartily thank BCNU for allowing me to attend what was such a professional and personal life highlight. It was a magical week that provided beautiful memories, and new friendships.”

She also said she’s been inspired to be more active in finding ways to advocate for herself, her coworkers and her patients, both at her workplace and internationally. •

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MEMBER PROFILE YOUR COLLEAGUE CLOSE-UP

KELSI JESSAMINE PROMOTES “ONE HEALTH” MODEL TO CONNECT WITH PATIENTS COMMUNITY NURSES know that outreach is one of the biggest challenges they face when working with marginalized populations.

You can’t provide care if you can’t connect to the people who need it. Trauma and other factors often contribute to a client’s aversion to seeking or receiving care.

But this wasn’t a problem for the team of student nurses working at Directions Youth Services Centre in downtown Vancouver on the afternoon of July 30. The group had organized and promoted a

also veterinarians on hand providing a range of services to their pets from grooming and nail clipping, to flea treatment and preventive education for owners. It’s not uncommon for marginalized people have companion animals. By providing pet services, the clinic organizers had an opportunity to offer primary care to individuals they might otherwise not see.

The clinics, which have just begun running in Vancouver this year, are a joint effort among several organizations, but they wouldn’t have gotten started without the initiative

“Often the pet is the one grounding factor in a person's life.”

Kelsi Jessamine

primary care clinic at the centre, and there was no shortage of opportunities to provide health services to the dozens of clients who visited that day.

What was the draw?

The clinic, dubbed “Pet Fair and People Care”, was offering more than just care to humans. There were

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of recent nursing grad Kelsi Jessamine.

The new nurse, who just began working on the pediatric ward at Kelowna General Hospital this June, knows about the power of animal friendships. It was her love for animals that led the Ottawa native to pursue her first degree in animal biology,

OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

where she gained experience in clinical veterinary practice and working at Guelph University’s animal health laboratory. While studying she also volunteered for Community Veterinary Outreach (CVO), an Ottawa charity started in 2003 that runs clinics providing free veterinary care to companion animals of marginalized and homeless individuals, with imbedded human health care services at the clinic.

Jessamine enrolled in UBC’s nursing program in 2015. Although she enjoyed pursuing her nursing degree, she says she realized that she missed working “on the animal side of things.”

It was while on a practicum at Evergreen Community Centre and the Skeena Terrace Housing Project in east Vancouver where Jessamine was providing health promotion education to clients that she saw an opportunity.

“The topic of pets seemed to come up all the time – it was a common theme,” says Jessamine. “The residents of

the building are not allowed to keep children,” she explains, “but if we talked about their pets their eyes lit up and we could then engage them and direct the conversation – I really saw how powerful that was.”

Drawing on her experience volunteering with CVO, Jessamine submitted a proposal to her nursing professors that would allow her to integrate the development of the clinic into her third-year synthesis project course.

“They said I could be the project lead, so I got a group of students to work with me,” she says, noting she also received support and encouragement from CVO founder Dr. Michelle Lem, who was already hoping to expand her initiative into BC. Jessamine and her fellow nursing students, together with Paws for Hope Animal Foundation (PFHAF) and CVO, developed, organized and directed the first pilot clinic that was held at Directions Youth Services last December. The pilot, which targeted street youth with

HARNESSING THE ANIMAL BOND Kelsi Jessamine is promoting a novel care model that’s making a difference in the lives of people in Vancouver’s marginalized communities.

continuing their collaboration with CVO and PFHAF in order to support student learning and provide valuable volunteer experience.

But Jessamine encourages all nurses to consider volunteering at a CVO clinic.

“We advertise through community centres and partners ahead of time with posters and we do outreach work,” she explains. “A nursing team walks the streets to hand out flyers to people with pets who could benefit from the services.” The clinics run for four hours and operate primarily on a walk-in basis. People come in with their pet, they are greeted by both the nursing and veterinary team and then see a vet for pet care services and education.

“We start the health education for the client through the veterinary consult, where they then have the option of engaging with services for themselves and seeing a nurse,” she says. “We’ve done three clinics so far and we have offered naloxone training and kit distribution, cardiovascular and blood pressure monitoring, sexual health teaching, mental health support and general wound care and treatment.”

Jessamine notes that the uptake of primary care services is much greater than what’s reported in the literature for the same

population receiving care without the pet care services. But she stresses that pets themselves provide important supports for their human companions.

“Often within this CARE FOR PEOPLE AND PETS Posters are used to promote care clinics for marginalized individuals population and their companion animals. the pet is the one CVO One Health model in grounding factor in a perBC. And she’s not alone. She son’s life,” she explains. “If and Leung were recently they’ve experienced a lot of sponsored by UBC to attend judgment or trauma in their a nursing conference at the lives – whatever their story University of Texas to share is – the pet is often a very their experiences. The two positive influence.”

She says the pet provides a have also been invited to number of protective factors speak about their project at the BC Centre for Disease and influences clients to Control’s 2017 Zoonoses make healthier choices.

Symposium on Nov. 15.

“When we’ve offered Jessamine says she wants naloxone kits to clients they’ll to continue to build partnertell us they don’t do drugs ships and keep expanding because they’re responsible this novel care model. for their pet. Or perhaps “Many communities have they’ve had a history of equally vulnerable populaaddiction in the past but their tion but with fewer services, lifestyle has had to change a so it would be very interestlittle bit because they have ing to expand our clinics to this added responsibility and more locations.” • purpose with a [non-human] social companion.”

Jessamine is clearly excited FOR MORE INFORMATION about the possibilities that about Community Veterinary come with introducing the Outreach visit: vetoutreach.org Credit: Jessica Ardley and Liviana Cristea

pets in the downtown region, required significant coordination from the students.

Veterinary care was provided

by PFHAF. Other partners included – Three Bridges Community Health Care and Directions Youth Services.

Internal referrals for the clinic were made through Directions Youth Services, and PPFHAF provided care to 25 animals and the nursing students provided primary health care services to the pet owners.

After the pilot, Jessamine and her student group organized a second successful Pet Fair and People Care clinic at the Evelyne Saller Centre on May 4 targeted at seniors living in the Downtown Eastside. And following the July 30 clinic, others are now scheduled for Oct. 12 and Nov. 26.

Although she works in Kelowna, Jessamine is committed to furthering CVO’s “One Health” clinic model that allows health-care providers to harness the strength of the human-animal bond. She travels regularly to Vancouver and, along with her friend and UBC Masters’ of Public Health candidate and veterinarian Dr. Doris Leung, now directs CVO One Health activities in the city.

The UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and School of Nursing are

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Q&A

HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY

AN INTERVIEW WITH LGBTQ CAUCUS CHAIR HANNA EMBREE BCNU’S LGBTQ CAUCUS exists to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and increase awareness throughout the union of their damaging effects.

The caucus is also a safe place for its members to openly discuss the challenges they face on the job, such as expressions of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. These forms of discrimination are still a serious issue, and can have devastating effects on an individual's personal and professional well-being.

Hanna Embree is the new chair of our LGBTQ caucus. The Dawson Creek RN, schooled at Thompson Rivers University (then University college of the Cariboo), specializes in maternal child practice.

She’s also an experienced steward who serves as treasurer on the BCNU North East region’s executive.

Update Magazine recently sat down with Embree to find out more about the ongoing work of the LGBTQ caucus.

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UPDATE The LGBTQ caucus is intended to be a safe space where individuals feel free to be themselves, but also as a way to engage with the union around particular issues. How well does it achieve those ends?

EMBREE It definitely works as a safe space. To be part of the caucus, you must identify as belonging to the community. And it’s important that people do identify as LGBTQ2IA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, two-spirited, intersex, asexual) – not in a specific way, just that they actively identify. Identifying lets everyone in the room know you have some idea of what it means to be attracted differently than people in the mainstream.

We are just starting to see some out-transgender members now. I’m hoping to continue to draw them in, because it’s vital those voices be heard.

On the engagement side, the caucus can serve as a portal for members to dip their feet in the water and see what the union is all

OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

about. Steward work can be an intimidating starting point, so the LGBTQ caucus gives you a softer start in the sense that you can get used to talking about issues there first. The caucus enables members to engage with the union from a nursing perspective and with the resources of the union behind them.

UPDATE BCNU has been active in Pride parades for a long time now. How important is BCNU’s role in Pride and what effect do you think Pride participation is having on the greater society?

EMBREE I believe Pride participation is very

important within the union and the LGBTQ caucus in building a sense of connection, liaising with the public and as a networking opportunity.

BCNU’s involvement has been growing over the years, and we are seeing more communities – like Prince George, and now Kamloops – moving to host their own Pride parades. I think it definitely normalizes the LGBTQ community and relationships when people see BCNU leaders actively participating. The Pride movement has been bending over backwards to make itself a friendly

and safe place for nonLGBTQ people to come and enjoy. But now I think we need to get a bit more political. I’m a feminist, and there are a lot of issues and places where being LGBTQ-identified is not okay. We need to fight for those causes, speak out against the hate and repression internationally.

We have a big voice here at BCNU – the public listens to nurses and hears us when we speak out. Public outreach at Pride is an important tool to get the message across. Caucus members and those that engage with us feel like they’ve got some agency to effect change in the world.

UPDATE One caucus goal is to increase tolerance and acceptance of gender differences within the health-care workplace. Are we making progress?

EMBREE It’s challenging.

I do feel that people who are drawn to nursing often come from more traditional communities where they may have pretty strict ideas about sexual orientation and gender roles in society. There’s lots of work to be done within the nursing community to achieve acceptance. If you ask nurses if they know anyone who is transgendered, most will say “no.”

But what’s the reason for that? It’s because trans people don’t feel safe telling you that right now, not that they aren’t there. We need to make health care a safe space.

I would like everywhere – my own workplace, all of Canada and the whole world ideally – to be a safe space to come out in. To not feel safe to reveal parts of yourself that may be relevant to your care can in many cases prevent people from accessing care.

UPDATE What’s it like to be an LGBTQ nurse in today’s health-care environment?

EMBREE Because I’m a nurse and I identify, I see just how difficult it can be for LGBTQ patients to access health care. There can be issues around hormones, around having to teach your providers about specific needs they aren’t familiar with. I spend a lot of time teaching and doing outreach with other nurses about LGBTQ, and especially around trans issues. One of my goals is to reduce the micro-aggression that occurs when health-care providers assume that everyone is gendered identically.

UPDATE The anti-violence campaign is a key focus for BCNU currently. Does it resonate for the LGBTQ caucus?

EMBREE It has more to do with us as nurses than as LGBTQ, but yes it really does resonate. When we talk about it in our caucus, everyone in the room has been assaulted at some point in their career – every single one! This is an issue whose time has come.

UPDATE Recently BCNU published a policy paper

on gender-affirming care.

How does it help your work?

EMBREE This was a project of former chair Cynthia Reid. We are distributing this policy paper right now to sensitize members to issues of mis-gendering, and other trans health care-related issues, especially in areas of first patient/client contact like mental health and emergency care. It’s crucial that all nurses learn to acknowledge the gender that the person is asking you to recognize.

It’s critical that trans-patients feel that accessing health care is safe for them, that it’s free of judgment about orientation. Our position statement mentions that good gender-affirming care “recognizes that a trans person’s previous experience with the health-care system may have been less than ideal.”

Affirmative care begins with the gender that people themselves identify with, not with one assigned to them based on their genitalia or genetics.

I want our members to understand that providing good health care can start with the question “What pronoun do you use?” • To join the LGBTQ caucus, please contact the chair via email at lgbtq@bcnu.org or Hanif Karim, BCNU Human Rights, Equity and Health Policy Officer.

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUITY REPS BCNU Human Rights and Equity Committee Christine Sorensen, Chair E christinesorensen@bcnu.org C 250-819-6293 Aboriginal Leadership Circle Diane Lingren, Chair E aboriginal@bcnu.org Rhonda Croft, Council Liaison C 250-212-0530 E rcroft@bcnu.org Workers with Disability Caucus Kelly Woywitka, Chair E disabilities@bcnu.org Teri Forster, Council Liaison C 250-485-7586 E teriforster@bcnu.org LGBTQ Caucus Hanna Embree, Chair E lgbtq@bcnu.org Tracy Quewezance, Council Liaison C 250-320-8064 E tquewezance@bcnu.org Men in Nursing Group TBD, Chair E m eninnursing@bcnu.org Tracey Greenberg, Council Liaison C 604-613-0381 E traceygreenberg@bcnu.org Mosaic of Colour Caucus Harwinder Sandhu, Chair E moc@bcnu.org Sara Mattu, Council Liaison C 778-989-8231 E saramattu@bcnu.org Young Nurses’ Network Sarra Smeaton, Chair E ynn@bcnu.org Hardev Bhullar, Council Liaison C 778-855-0220 E hardevbhullar@bcnu.org

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YOUR PENSION SECURING YOUR FUTURE

TIME FOR A MINIVAN? YOUR PENSION AND YOUR CHILDREN PLANNING FOR PARENTHOOD CAN BE A TIME OF excitement and anticipation. But before you start looking at minivans, don’t forget about your pension. There are practical steps Municipal Pension Plan members can take to ensure that raising children does not come at the expense of retirement security.

TOP UP YOUR PENSION

When you take time off work to look after your child, you won’t be receiving your regular salary or contributing to your pension. This will affect your current income, and it will also affect your pension when you retire.

Your pension is calculated based on your years of pensionable service and the average of your five highest years of salary. The more pensionable service you have, the greater your pension.

Although you normally accumulate pensionable service by working and con-

tributing to the plan, you can also buy back service to cover the period of an approved maternity, parental or adoption leave.

The cost to do this is calculated using the length of your leave, along with the employee and employer contribution rates and your full-time equivalent salary when you apply to buy service. You’ll be responsible for paying your employee share, and your employer will pay their share.

You can sign in to My Account on the newly redesigned MPP website and use the personalized purchase cost estimator to see how much this might cost.

You must meet criteria and timelines under pension plan

rules. For example, you have five years from the end of a leave, or 30 days from termination of employment, to buy a leave. The Income Tax Act has its own rules too.

BOOST YOUR CONTRIBUTORY SERVICE WITH A CHILD-REARING CREDIT

Your total pensionable service isn’t the only factor influencing your pension.

Your years of contributory service count as well. The MPP uses this to calculate whether you are eligible for an unreduced pension before the age of 60.

You can apply to have the time you took off work to raise your child or children count as contributory service, called a child-rearing credit. There’s no cost involved – all you have to do is apply, and the MPP will add up to five years of time you took off work looking after your child to your years of contributory service.

PROTECT YOUR BENEFICIARIES

Your pension may provide some financial security for

your family when you die. If you have a spouse, they are automatically your beneficiary and will receive your pension benefit. If you have a child, you may want to name them as an alternate beneficiary in case your spouse also dies or to provide for your child on your death.

Depending on your situation, you may wish to name your child as a primary beneficiary. If you have a spouse, they will have to give up their right to be the automatic beneficiary of your pension for you to do this. Consider also naming a trustee for your beneficiary to manage your pension on your behalf if your child is under age 19.

PLANNING FOR YOUR NEW FUTURE

Becoming a parent is one of life’s most significant and exciting events. And as with all major changes in your life, it’s wise to take a few moments to review your financial situation and consult an independent financial adviser, including your options when it comes to work and your pension. •

MSP PREMIUMS: GOOD NEWS FOR RBP MEMBERS The provincial government’s recent announcement that Medical Service Plan (MSP) premiums will be phased out over the next four years bodes well for members, particularly those who are paying all or a portion of the MSP premium. Currently members retiring from a Nurses' Bargaining Association position who qualify and are enrolled in the Retiree Benefit Program (RBP) are receiving 50 percent of their MSP premium cost back from the program. Although that 50 percent refund will get smaller over the next four years, the RBP committee will be looking at options to improve benefit support for retired members as more funding becomes available for other benefit improvements. •

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OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

COUNCIL PROFILE HERE’S WHO’S WORKING FOR YOU

EMPOWERING MEMBERS “The challenge is to make the union real for nurses working in the more remote communities, like Atlin, Stewart or Dease Lake,” says North West chair Teri Forster.

BORN ADVOCATE NORTH WEST CHAIR TERI FORSTER

QUICK FACTS NAME Teri Forster.

GRADUATED 2004, Northwest Community College.

UNION POSITION North West chair.

WHY I SUPPORT BCNU? "It empowers people to advocate for their own life – giving them the tools to advocate for themselves."

TERI FORSTER IS CLEARLY excited by the prospect of how much northern nurses can achieve during her three-year term as North West regional chair.

“I love what I’m doing, and I love feeling that I’m making a difference,” says Forster, who was recently elected by North West members. An LPN with a wide variety of experiences, Forster relishes building on what she has learned since replacing former chair Sharon Sponton last year.

“This is not a job you do if you don’t care. It’s sure not nine-to-five, by any stretch.”

Travel is a necessity for the new chair of the vast but sparsely populated region.

“The challenge is to make the union real for nurses working in more remote communities, like Atlin, Stewart or Dease Lake,” says the recently married Prince Rupert resident. “People know where their dues go, but it’s important to put a face on the union so they know where to turn when they need help at work.”

The logistics of getting around the geographically diverse region are often dif-

ficult – particularly in winter – but Forster’s previous position as regional communications secretary helps. “It takes real planning to put a trip together that makes any sense,” she says, “because travel often involves flying, driving and even long ferry rides to Haida Gwaii.”

Forster obviously enjoys rising to a challenge. After graduating from Northwest Community College in Terrace in 2004, she worked in mental health and addictions before heading south to White Rock’s Peace Arch Hospital, where she became one of the first full-scope LPNs to work in emergency.

After returning to Terrace she worked in hemodialysis, then with at-risk youth and later as a community nurse case manager.

Her experience in jobs that push the limits on scope of practice, led her to believe that working to full scope – if aligned with appropriate policies – can help address nurse shortages, especially up north.

And she believes this potential applies equally to all nursing designations.

Recruitment and retention

is a persistent problem, but Forster is big on solutions, including the idea of replacing agency travel nurses with an in-house version that brings them under the BCNU contract. Those new jobs would combine a base assignment with deployment for short periods, giving nurses flexibility, while also exposing them to new communities. She believes this would make it more likely they would opt to work there in the future.

Forster grew up in Metro Vancouver, but she’s now an unabashed booster of northern opportunities and invites all nurses to consider heading north and trying out the lifestyle. “There are lots of openings,” she says, “so you can work full-time right out of school. And the jobs come with bonuses: there’s a strong sense of community, and the scenery is absolutely stunning.”

Asked what she likes most about her new job, Forster doesn’t hesitate: “I’m a born advocate, so what I enjoy most is empowering people to advocate for their own life – giving them the tools to advocate for themselves.” •

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WHO CAN HELP? BCNU IS HERE TO SERVE MEMBERS

BCNU CAN. Here’s how you can get in touch with the right person to help you.

CONTACT YOUR STEWARDS For all workplace concerns contact your steward. REGIONAL REPS If your steward can’t help, or for all regional matters, contact your regional rep. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE For all provincial, national or union policy issues, contact your executive committee.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT Gayle Duteil

On leave

ACTING PRESIDENT Christine Sorensen C 250-819-6293 christinesorensen@bcnu.org

REGIONAL REPS CENTRAL VANCOUVER Marlene Goertzen Co-chair C 778-874-9330 marlenegoertzen@bcnu.org Judy McGrath Co-chair C 604-970-4339 jmcgrath@bcnu.org COASTAL MOUNTAIN Kath-Ann Terrett Chair C 604-828-0155 kterrett@bcnu.org EAST KOOTENAY Helena Barzilay Chair C 250-919-3310 hbarzilay@bcnu.org FRASER VALLEY Tracey Greenberg Chair C 604-613-0381 traceygreenberg@bcnu.org

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TREASURER Sharon Sponton C 250-877-2547 sharonsponton@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR Adriane Gear C 778-679-1213 adrianegear@bcnu.org

EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR Deb Ducharme C 250-804-9964 dducharme@bcnu.org

NORTH EAST Danette Thomsen Chair C 250-960-8621 danettethomsen @bcnu.org

SHAUGHNESSY HEIGHTS Claudette Jut Chair C 604-786-8422 claudettejut@bcnu.org

SOUTH ISLANDS Lynnda Smith Co-chair C 250-360-7475 lynndasmith@bcnu.org

NORTH WEST Teri Forster Chair C 250-485-7586 teriforster@bcnu.org

SIMON FRASER Lynn Lagace Co-chair C 604-219-4162 lynnlagace@bcnu.org

Margo Wilton Co-chair C 250-818-4862 mwilton@bcnu.org

OKANAGAN-SIMILKAMEEN Rhonda Croft Chair C 250-212-0530 rcroft@bcnu.org

Wendy Gibbs Co-Chair C 604-240-1242 wendygibbs@bcnu.org

PACIFIC RIM Rachel Kimler Chair C 250-816-0865 rachelkimler@bcnu.org RIVA Sara Mattu Chair C 778-989-8231 saramattu@bcnu.org

OCTOBER 2017 • UPDATE MAGAZINE

SOUTH FRASER VALLEY Hardev Bhullar Co-chair C 778-855-0220 hardevbhullar@bcnu.org Walter Lumamba Co-chair C 604-512-2004 walterlumamba@bcnu.org

THOMPSON NORTH OKANAGAN Tracy Quewezance Chair C 250-320-8064 tquewezance@bcnu.org VANCOUVER METRO Meghan Friesen Chair C 604-250-0751 meghanfriesen@bcnu.org WEST KOOTENAY Ron Poland Chair C 250-368-1085 ronpoland@bcnu.org

OFF DUTY

MEMBERS AFTER HOURS

STRIKING A BALANCE NIGEL KITTO KNOWS HOW TO MIX WORK AND PLAY DURING THE PAST TWO decades, the picturesque community of Kimberley has transformed itself from an old mining town into a world-class tourism destination. Nigel Kitto has played a part in those changes. The veteran nurse says finding a healthy work/life balance in Kimberley has also changed his life for the better.

Kitto currently works part-time as a primary health-care nurse at the Kimberley Health Centre.

Once a fully-operational hospital, the facility re-invented itself as a community health-care centre where clients can access family physicians, pharmacists, X-ray technicians, laboratory services and much more.

Kitto and his wife Toni (also a nurse) immigrated to Canada from Adelaide, Australia almost 12 years ago. Finding a true sense of work/life balance was a critical part of their decision to make Canada their new home. “In Australia, we were living in the city and working full-time building our careers. So when we emigrated from Australia, my wife and I made a conscious decision that life here was really going to be

different – that we were really going to try and seek that work/life balance,” he recalls.

After landing a two-year contract in Cranbrook, where he worked in the town’s busy emergency room, Kitto and his wife relocated to nearby Kimberley. He eventually changed to casual/part-time work in order to help care for his young son.

Keen to take advantage of the town’s fabulous outdoor activities, Kitto soon joined the Kootenay Freewheelers Cycling Club. During his first big ride with the group, he suffered a major fall, resulting in shoulder surgery and a long recovery period.

Kitto says he was overwhelmed by the level of concern shown by his fellow cyclists. “I had only just met these people, but they were there for me – asking about my recovery, encouraging me to get back on.

That really cemented for me what it means to live in a small town, that people in Kimberley really do take the time to care for their neighbours and other people in town.”

Kitto eventually became even more involved with the outdoor recreational com-

munity and began serving as the cycling club’s president.

He also volunteers with the Kootenay Orienteering Club, the Kimberley Nature Park Society and the Kimberley Trails Society. And, as if that isn’t enough, he is currently serving his first term on Kimberley’s city council. He has also been appointed to numerous portfolios, including the Kimberley Nature Park Society, the Kimberley Trails Society, the Parcel Tax Roll Review Panel and the Kimberley Public Library.

When asked how he ever finds the time to fit everything into his hectic schedule, while managing to maintain a fulfilling nursing career, he points to his healthy work/life balance as the answer. “You give away

a lot of yourself personally [while nursing]; you are working hard as a nurse to make that connection to the client, and that comes at a cost,” he says.

“Work is important, family is important and volunteering is important as well. It’s really good for your mental health and spiritual health.

I’m not a religious person, but I still think that being involved in the community, and realizing that there’s something bigger than you, is a really important thing for all of us to realize.

“When you’re out there swinging tools on a trail or sitting at a desk making decisions about the future,” he says, “you realize that you are part of something bigger than just yourself.” •

FAMILY AT PLAY Nigel Kitto (right), spends Father’s Day in Kimberley Nature Park with his son Christopher (left), wife Toni (centre) and Nugget, the family dog. The municipal park is managed and maintained completely by volunteers and is the largest of its kind in Canada.

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VIOLENCE. NOT PART OF THE JOB. USED BY NURSE DAVID CLARK’S PATIENT TO HELP HIM WALK.

LATER USED TO ATTACK NURSE DAVID CLARK.

VISIT BCNU.ORG / TA K E ACTION AND HELP KEEP NURSES SAFE

PM 40834030