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Saying good-riddance to 2009
Emily Plihal
for Smoky River Express
I figured completing the year in review newspaper would bore me. After all, re-capping everything I’ve already written, edited (hopefully) and digested to the point I never want to see it again.
However; as I trudged through 51 weeks of articles, I discovered how amazing our community is. It is incredible the number of good deeds our community members do for others.
Unfortunately, this time of year also digs up all the bad memories from the year.
This year my focus has been directed at our shaky health care system.
My sister Katia just graduated from nursing school and her future in Alberta looks quite bleak right now.
When she first started University, they were urging all students to go through the accelerated program because we had a major nursing shortage.
Now, just three short years later, the province has decided that we do not need registered nurses (RNs). Smarty pants Stephen Duckett thinks it is wiser to train 200 licensed practical nurses from JAMAICA to come over and learn to do the jobs our RNs are currently doing.
Alright, so let me get this straight Mr. Duckett.... You will not allow Alberta Health Services to hire any registered nurses coming out of University because you are so concerned about our budget, but you ARE willing to train foreign employees to take over Albertan jobs????
Maybe I’m crazy, but I think Mr. Duckett should be given a one way ticket out of our country. You are destroying our health care system that was already shaky to start with!
I’m sorry, licensed practical nurses are great. They have very important jobs within the hospital and are a critical part of our health care system. However; how can you replace an RN who has four years of University education, training and hands-on experiences with someone who has a diploma to do basic nursing?
I’m sorry, but I’d rather pay an RN an extra $2,000 each month to ensure I will be getting the proper health care services.
Forgive me, RN students coming directly out of University can get jobs.
1. They have to be part of Alberta Health Services.
2. They have to go to British Columbia or Saskatchewan who are offering signing bonuses to nurses willing to work in their hospitals. They are crying our for the services of an RN, while the Albertans are not so gingerly kicking our skilled nurses in the rump.
Our economy is already in really rough shape, and now you want to ensure our health care system is just as ugly?
This is the first time in my life that I’ve actually been ashamed to be an Albertan and to have to witness the political outcry our citizens have had to endure.
Wake up! You are making cuts to the most critical parts of our lives. Health care and education are the two most critical parts of anyone’s life!
You cut our music and arts programs so drastically from schools that our children no longer have alternatives to main-stream learning. Now you want to make sure if we are dying in a hospital that we will not have proper help.
Congratulations Alberta government. I understand the concept of being a progressive conservative, however; I didn’t realize how extreme the party has become.Money may be important, but if you have no skilled healthy employees to make you that money, good luck being a prosperous province.
Happy 2010 government, lets see if you’ll improve your ways!
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