Year: 2007
Location: Lethbridge
Profile: Diane Poynter lived the downgrading of Lethbridge and area hospital facilities and staffing during her 25-year nursing career. When she graduated as a nurse in 1977, she worked at St. Michael’s Hospital in Lethbridge. She could provide close attention to people’s problems, and the healthcare staff faced little pressure to discharge patients early. In the 1990s, provincial cutbacks meant stripping back services and in 1995, completely shuttering St. Michael’s. “They destroyed one hospital in Lethbridge, cut services drastically. They closed the hospital in Picture Butte.”
UNA negotiated its first transfer agreement for nurses when St. Michael’s closed and Poynter became a geriatric nurse in the Chinook Regional Hospital. She had started her career as a surgical nurse, but had to switch to geriatric in the closing years of St. Michael’s. St. Michael’s was organized by UNA in its early days and it participated in the 1977 strike. Poynter had become secretary of her local before the 1980 strike. She served on UNA’s board for many years. Poynter believes that staff cutbacks have curtailed both patient services and the ability of senior staff to mentor new nurses. She supports medicare’s expansion to include pharmaceuticals, dental care, and more physiotherapy coverage.
Keywords: Chinook Regional Hospital; Geriatric nurse; Hospital closings; Medicare; Mentoring of nurses; Nurse cutbacks-impacts; Surgical nurse; Lethbridge and area hospitals; St. Michael’s Hospital.
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See also: Occupational Health and Safety; United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta