Manitoba nurses say they 'desperately need better resources and support' to fight COVID-19

More than 1,500 Manitoba nurses are raising their voices in solidarity with doctors and are calling on the province to do more to stem the tide of COVID-19.

In a letter sent to Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Cameron Friesen on Sunday evening, nurses expressed desperation, calling on officials to take stronger steps, including locking down the province and moving quickly to "lessen the burden on our already overstretched health-care system."

One nurse who helped organize the letter says one key issue is that nurses are not included in decisions made about the health-care system, but are made for them instead.

"I think we just feel unheard as health-care providers in general," said the nurse, whom CBC has agreed not to name because they fear they could be disciplined for speaking out.

"No one asks the front line when they make these changes…. Now we're stuck with minimal staff, minimal ICU beds, under the impression that we can triple ICU beds, but at what cost?"

Patients and health-care workers are paying the price, the nurse says.

"It's been terrifying, to be honest…. We're working short-staffed for most of our shifts because staff are either exhausted from working so much or we have sick calls from COVID exposures."

The letter from nurses comes a week after Manitoba doctors voiced their concerns in their own letter, urging the province to enact the following recommendations province-wide for three weeks:

• Shut down all non-essential retail and service businesses and impose more stringent occupancy limits for essential retail and service establishments.
• Suspend secondary and post-secondary in-class instruction in favour of virtual learning. Elementary schools and kindergartens could remain open.
• Implement a 14-day self-isolation requirement for all out-of-province travellers and visitors.
• Limit gatherings of any kind to household members only.
• Outsource COVID-19 testing to improve capacity and reduce the current burden on hospital
  laboratories.

The province's health minister has faced backlash for his response to that letter when he suggested the doctors were "causing chaos." Friesen later said he regretted his word choice, but declined to apologize.

The letter on Sunday comes "as an act of unequivocal support for the stand our physician and PhD-educated colleagues have taken," nurses wrote.

"Those of us who are working on the front lines feel as though the plans our colleagues have laid out are critical in providing any chance of our health-care system surviving this pandemic. We fully support these recommendations."

"We desperately need better resources and support across our health-care system."

In addition, nurses are calling on the government to increase testing capacity, resources, personal protective equipment and supplies to the health-care system as more and more staff test positive for COVID-19.

According to the nurse who helped spearhead the letter, support is all they're asking for.

"Our job as nurses is to advocate for patients, and that's what we're trying to do. We want the public to know that we hear you as nurses and we're trying our best, but we need this government to support us, our physician colleagues and every other front-line worker in the health-care system."

Read the letter to the premier and health minister from Manitoba nurses: