The Report

When the Nanaimo Child Development Center (CDC) opened over 50 years ago, the preschool was one of its first community programs, said HSA member Kathleen Silvey.

Successful Charter challenge to provisions banning extra-billing, private insurance would create two-tier system By HSA President Val Avery Public health care is one of Canada’s greatest achievements. But our most-cherished social program is under threat. A group of plaintiffs led by Dr. Brian Day, CEO of the for-profit Cambie Surgeries Corporation, is challenging the constitutionality of key provisions of B.C.’s...

Domestic violence and workplace safety: Why policy change is neededBy Samantha Ponting, HSA Communications When we talk about health and safety in the workplace, domestic violence issues rarely enter the discussion. Yet for someone who has been awake most of the night from duress, their ability to manage workplace risks and hazards can become a serious issue. “For those people...

By Anne Leclerc HSA member When a resident dies in long-term care (LTC), this can take a toll on staff who have developed close emotional bonds with them. Our kno wledge-to-action (KTA) research project “Keeping the Light Shining” identified challenges that staff experience when caring for LTC re sidents throughout the dying process and strategies to help alleviate staff stress...

The effects of for-profit health insurance on public health care delivery: Examining the researchBy Samantha Ponting, HSA Communications Given Canada’s close proximity to the US, Canadians often hear horror stories from Americans about healthcare, whose bodies and bank accounts are at the mercy of a very broken system. We hear anecdotes of multi-thousand dollar medical bills, personal bankruptcy, preventable deaths...

According to research conducted by the Canadian Malnutrition Taskforce, 25 to 50 per cent of patients admitted to a Canadian hospital are malnourished. “That’s a significant portion of people who we serve in our hospitals,” said Jaki Thornhill, HSA member, dietitian and professional practice leader at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. While there is some variability in this statistic based...

By Dennis Blatchford HSA’s pensions and benefits advocate answers common questions from HSA members. Have there been any developments regarding my benefit plan, the Joint Health Sciences Benefit Trust (JHSBT)? Yes! I expect the JHSBT will soon launch a website giving members information and updates on their benefit plan going forward. The new website will be the main communication source...

By Tim Lim Universal health care is an issue of national pride, shared among Canadians. Similarly, Canadians take pride in the beautiful nature encompassed in the country. Yet with recent climate change pressures – from hurricanes and floods to ravaging forest fires – the effects of climate change are threatening our ecosystems and becoming more intertwined with our daily health...

BY DANIELLE DIONNE, ASHLEY GRANT, TANYA MILLER, AND MRIDULA MORGANHSA MEMBERS In May 2019, 31 social program staff at CMHA BC joined HSA. CMHA employees share why they came together and unionized, and what helped them persevere through a sometimes challenging unionization drive. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) prides itself on being one of Canada’s oldest continuing charities in...

By Jennifer Edgar, HSA member I write to share what happened when union members at my worksite took action, with support from HSA, to address workload issues in our laboratory. Through working together to collect data, we success­fully challenged the hospital’s method for calculating what constitutes “reasonable work­load,” and we persuaded man­agement to deliver concrete changes that have improved the...