Jessica Lagman

SEIU recently profiled a member from our region 1, who is a rehabilitation assistant who works at Thunder Bay Regional Hospital, Krista Henson. She talks about the important role rehabilitation assistants play in the health system and how the government is making uneducated decisions that are greatly impacting hospitals.

November 20, 2020 is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is a day to we honour the trans, two-spirited, and non-binary people whose lives have been taken away too early from transphobic violence. 

Erin Smith-Silk is an animal attendant at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in the Comparative Research department. In Erin’s small department, pandemic pay became the elephant in the room, as only some workers received the temporary wage increase. She shares how the government’s decisions have greatly affected her workplace and the hospital sector.

Cara Thompson has been a Pharmacy Technician for the passed 21 years. She dives into the significant and diverse roles the pharmacy department plays in our health system and community. Cara also shares how frustrated she was when the pharmacy department was never added to the pandemic pay lists released.

For Corinne Kershaw a paramedic for the County of Lambton, it was not about the pandemic pay compensation, it was the lack of knowledge the government had when making changes to the healthcare system. Read more about her story.

Karl Penney has dedicated 35 years to providing happiness and nourishment through his passion for cooking. For the first 30 years, he served in the Canadian Royal Navy as a Drill Sargent and cook. For the past five years, he has been preparing meals for the residents at Chartwell Empress Kanata.

Nancy Matthews has worked Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville for the past 25 years, most of which as a housekeeper. As the COVID-19 numbers continue to rise and the number of hospital outbreaks continues to grow, Nancy reflects on the harsh memories from the early days of the pandemic.

Do you know what a Medical Device Reprocessing Technician is? The Ford government clearly didn’t, as MDR workers were left off the province’s initial Pandemic Pay list this past spring. Read Tanya Hogan’s story to learn more about the important work MDR technicians do.