With COVID-19 related hospitalizations starting to grow again in Saskatchewan, the president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses is sounding the alarm bell.

Tracy Zambory says she is at a loss for words when it comes to the toll that this is taking.

“I’m at a loss for words right now.  I have not been able to have any conversations with registered nurses where they don’t feel defeated and despondent. I have never seen anything like it. “Zambory said.  “I’m concerned that what is going to come out of this is a resource shortage.  It is bad in both urban and rural Saskatchewan, but that shortage was evident before COVID.  What we are seeing now is a workplace that is not sustainable.  My members feel they are going above and beyond, but they are not appreciated.”

Zambory says she is hearing every day from nurses, even those just entering the workforce, that they can’t go on and are re-thinking their career choices. She says while calls have been made before to get a seat at the table when it comes to discussing how healthcare works and what it will look like moving forward, she is making the call again. She says without registered nurses and other healthcare workers doing what they have been doing for the past 20 months, the healthcare system in Saskatchewan would have imploded quite some time ago.