Behind the story of emergency room closings across the country are affected workers, like “Sue,” a 25-year veteran nurse in Ontario who openly wept over her decision to leave frontline care.
The 52-year-old woman, who was independently confirmed to be a nurse by CTVNews.ca but asked to remain anonymous, said she loved her job caring for patients, having worked as an operating room nurse, in surgical wards, and in rehabilitation and palliative care.
But since February she has been out of work on stress leave and seeing a psychologist after suffering from burnout.
After two intense years of working during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sue said both she and her colleagues faced “harassment” from administrators who she said forced them to care for too many patients , than would be considered safe. Others, she claimed, were ordered to work mandatory overtime to fill staff shortages, due to illness, exhaustion or because colleagues were leaving.
“When I think about breastfeeding now … I shudder,” she said. “There was always a hint of ‘don’t you dare call in sick,’ or ‘don’t you dare miss work,’ or ‘we know you’re stressed, but Ontario needs you.’
Sue has decided to retire early and said she knows of several other experienced nurses who have left to work in long-term care, public health or nursing agencies where they can choose their own hours and assignments , reducing your stress. Two others who are planning to leave are waiting to notify managers, she added.
“Everybody I’ve talked to has either quit or retired or is seeing a psychiatrist or a counselor and is on anti-depressants … How sad is that?” she said.
EMERGENCY AID “EXTENDED” AND “DANGEROUS”
This weekend, several hospitals across Canada – especially in rural communities – are announcing temporary closures of emergency rooms and other medical services due to shortages of nurses and doctors.
Glengarry Memorial Hospital, in Alexandria, Ontario. is closing its emergency department overnight Saturday and Sunday, while Kamsack Hospital in Kamsack, Sask. it is closing hospital beds and reducing emergency hours because there are not enough nurses to staff them.
One hospital in Perth, Ontario. the emergency department has been closed since July 2.
Deb Lefebvre, a registered nurse who lives in Kingston Ontario but works outside the area in another community, describes emergency care in Canada as “dangerous.”
“They’re stretched and they’ve become dangerous areas themselves and for patients to visit,” she said. “We are leaving hospitals … feeling that patient care has been compromised.”
Another nurse independently verified by CTVNews.ca, who requested anonymity, added, “The staff-to-patient ratio is also not safe and many nurses are leaving now knowing that patients are not being given safe care. Bells left for hours, patients soiling themselves because there is no one to take them to the toilet, patients dying in waiting rooms. Hospitals in Canada are not safe.
On Friday, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs replaced his health minister and the CEO of Horizon Health Network after a patient died this week in the waiting room of a Fredericton emergency room. A death review process has begun.
The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians also warned in a statement earlier this month that “it has never been more important to pay attention to the current state of emergency departments,” adding that these facilities are a “window into health care.”
Lefebvre said the difficult decision to close services was a huge red flag. There aren’t enough people to do the job safely, she claims. Her advice to Canadians going to the emergency room in the coming weeks is to have a friend or relative accompany them to make sure they are seen if their condition suddenly worsens.
In an emailed statement to CTVNews.ca on Friday, Paul-Emile Cloutier, president and CEO of HealthCareCAN, acknowledged that the past two and a half years have laid bare Canada’s health care system.
“During the pandemic, healthcare workers have worked – and continue to work – hard to provide the best care they can in extremely difficult circumstances, but what we see now is a healthcare workforce that is no longer able to cover the cracks of a system that is not built to handle this constant and increasing pressure,” he said. “Patient outcomes and health workforce shortages will not improve if we simply continue to pour more money into a broken system. It needs to be reimagined to effectively respond to the changing needs of an aging population and the growing demand for health services.
They urged all levels of government to take immediate and concrete action now to “strengthen the health system for tomorrow”.
Meanwhile, Dr. Michael Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, expressed sympathy for emergency nurses, saying they carry a very heavy burden.
“They get demoralized, burn out and then leave the department to work elsewhere. With fewer and fewer emergency nurses and doctors across the country, it is difficult for us to keep up with all the care needs and we are extremely concerned about potential delays in care,” he told CTVNews.ca in a statement sent to email on Friday.
THE SITUATION COULD GET WORSE
A late 2021 survey by Statistics Canada says one in four nurses plans to leave due to workplace stress or mental health concerns in the next three years. (
As the summer wave of COVID-19 approaches, frontline departures may increase, according to Linda Silas, head of the Canadian Nurses Union Federation.
“What we’re hearing from our provincial nursing unions is that they’re getting calls every day from nurses who want to either change their status, going from full-time to part-time or part-time to casual, so that they drastically reduce their working hours or quit altogether through early retirement,” Silas said.
Bonuses offered by some provinces such as Ontario and Quebec have not worked to stem the tide, she argued. “They all fall on their faces because they’re a flash in the pan,” she said.
The main issues, Silas argued, are quality of life and how nurses say they are treated, with many being made to work overtime or denied time off. Retaining these veteran, experienced nurses is the first step toward “stopping the bleeding” and keeping frontline health care safe, they added.
“Employers need to work with nurses to see what do they need to stay?” she said. “For some, it’s as simple as, ‘I can’t be authorized to work overtime.’ ‘I have a family.’ “So you guarantee me I’ll stay then,” Silas added.
A NATIONAL SOLUTION?
The premiers, who met in Victoria earlier this week, asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to convene a first meeting of ministers to reach an agreement on health care funding.
Nursing groups are also calling on the federal government to develop a national plan to address the nursing shortage, including a plan for how many nurses will be needed in the coming decades.
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