Editorial

RNs are worth their weight in gold
Marilyn Larivee might have been dancing with the devil when she decided last week to respond to the blanket of anti-nurse advertisements that ‘someone’ has dropped in newspapers across the province.
But it had to be said. Contrary to what Albertans are being asked to believe, the nurses are not the bad guys, the ‘greedy people’ they’re made out to be.
People like Marilyn Larivee and Danielle Dennis have to respond -- because they care.
Like most of her RN counterparts, Larivee has turned caring into a profession. She’s cared for us, helped deliver our children and grandchildren, looked after our parents and grandparents. All because she cares.
And anyone who gets to know a Registered Nurse can clearly see his or her commitment is not about money. RNs are there because they care enough about their profession to put up with what patients -- and now what their employer -- dish out.
The ads accuse nurses of spurning full-time work because they stand to make more money by working part time and pulling in extra shifts. They also say the previous contract left the employer strapped to clauses that insist there must be a RN in charge of every ‘unit, “even if another health care professional is well-suited to the task.”
What the ads don’t talk about is the fact that many RNS ran scared -- some of them out of the country -- when this government began downsizing, effectively slicing and dicing its nursing rosters. Nursing jobs were as scarce as hen’s teeth for many years. So why would anyone want to spend all that time and effort to garner nursing degree if there were no jobs?
But rather than admitting it’s responsible for the shortage of RNs willing to work full time, the province first crafts new legislation that makes nurses’ strikes illegal. Then it launches a smear campaign to make the nurses look bad as it enters contract talks.
It leaves us wondering, ‘What kind of employer dumps on its employees?’ Even better, who’d want to work for such an employer?

Raging over requisitions
Mayor Ray Stern was noticeably upset last week when he learned the Lesser Slave Lake Regional Housing Authority’s requisition was 67 per cent higher than last year. In fact, he was feeling so ‘reactive’, the mayor wouldn’t comment until he had more information.
The reaction from the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River’s Reeve Sheila Foley and councillors when they learned their requisition had shot up by 66 per cent – to about $117,000 -- was similar.
Residents at the Vanderwell Heritage Place haven’t had a rent increase for the past couple of years. Most pay $625 per month – some with larger rooms pay more. But as all householders know, expenses — especially utilities and groceries – have skyrocketed in the past two or three years. But still the lodge fees are constant.
We agree that it’s tough to pick on those with fixed incomes. And for those who’ve lived through the Dirty ‘30s, the Second World War and other tough times, penny pinching is a way of life. There’s nothing extravagant about their lifestyle.
But at the same time, we agree with Councillor Debbie Parsons who says by shifting the responsibility onto municipalities, the Authority might well be hitting those it’s trying so hard to protect.
“What about the seniors on the outside? The ones who are living in their own homes?” They’re taxpayers too, say Parsons. And when the new requisitions are added onto property tax notices, it’ll be “one group of seniors subsidizing the others.”