Year: 2007
Location: Calgary
Jane Bennett was working in postpartum community services at the South Calgary Centre for the Calgary Health Region when she was interviewed. She had a varied nursing career. After receiving her BSc in Nursing, she worked as an employee relations officer for the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses. She was fired after a dispute about a strike in Red Deer. She became a registered real estate agent but later came back to nursing in Edmonton, working in coronary care. Then she worked in hematology in BC. In 1990 she left nursing because “it’s all mostly administration and keeping up with the flow of admissions and discharges.” There was no time for “nursing care.” But she returned to nursing in 2000, working in Public Health. In postpartum, she found that there were too few postpartum nurses to ensure that all moms get proper follow-up.
Bennett views UNA as a far better representative for nurses than the AARN was. It’s more active and, for example, has been working with older nurses who want to work part-time to get the system to adapt to their needs. UNA also represented her in a conflict with nursing management, an important union role.
Keywords: Alberta Association of Registered Nurses; Coronary care nursing; Employee relations officer; Grievances; Hematology nursing; Part-time nursing; Postpartum nursing; South Calgary Centre.
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See also: United Nurses of Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta