A Kelowna General Hospital nurse with a decade of experience says she has never seen morale and conditions at KGH as bad as they are now.
“We are not proud of the care we’re providing. Most of us love our jobs. I love being a nurse, I love taking care of people. I’m not a disgruntled nurse who is miserable. I love helping people, even the horrible jobs, but not like this.”
The nurse was motivated to reach out to Castanet after reading a story about some KGH staff being offered colouring posters and Crayola markers as a way to take a break in order to relieve stress.
An Interior Health media relations spokesperson told Castanet, “yes, this was a suggestion as a way to support staff to have dedicated break time where they can ‘turn off.’”
The nurse Castanet spoke with, who is remaining anonymous for the protection of her employment, said she wishes she could speak publicly about what hospital staff are dealing with.
“It’s very easy to not do anything when none of us can speak up. We don’t get breaks these days, and to colour? That’s a bigger story.”
Castanet reached out to the BC Nurses Union, which represent more than 48,000 professional nurses and allied health care workers in the province, and were told there was no one available to answer our questions.
The nurse continued, “don’t take my word for it. Ask them to pull how many pay queries have been put in for missed meal breaks in the last three months. Because we don’t even get breaks and the attitude toward us is, ‘too bad there’s nothing we can do, here’s a colouring book?'”
