Pelican Narrows Dealing With Nursing Shortage

Pelican Narrows Dealing With Nursing Shortage

Wednesday, February 02, 2005 at 14:27

 

 

Residents of Pelican Narrows have been told there will be times over the next few weeks when they will have no nursing services at all.

 

The community is going through a severe nursing shortage prompted by the recent resignations of several nurses.

 

Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation chief Ron Michel says there are normally between eight and ten nurses in Pelican Narrows.

 

Currently, there are three on staff, but local health officials are optimistic they will find replacements by the end of the month.

 

Michel acknowledges the outgoing nurses identified security and workload issues as their main reasons for leaving.

 

Michel says he’s taking steps to ensure there is adequate security at the local health centre.

 

He’s also making a public appeal to local residents to be considerate of the nurses’ situation and to not wear them down with unnecessary calls.

 

Local health officials say any emergencies that arise when a nurse is not on duty will be handled at the Flin Flon hospital.

 

Ambulance services will remain on call.