Date: 2007
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Laurie Lang “came up off the farm” and began his health career as an Institutional Attendant in 1971. His lifelong passion for education led him to become a Registered Psychiatric Nurse in 1984 and then a Registered Nurse in 1988. Lang worked in various programs at Alberta Hospital Edmonton throughout his nursing career. At the time of the interview he was working with the Phoenix Program, a program for sex offenders which he noted proudly had led to a significant decrease in recidivism.
Lang advocated for making hospitals safer for staff and patients alike. In his role as president of the UNA local at Alberta Hospital Edmonton, he took the lead on issues of Occupational Health and Safety and Professional Responsibility Concerns. Laurie Lang decried psychiatry being “the poor sister in care” and noted that the understaffing caused by Ralph Klein’s cutbacks meant patients being discharged too early and receiving less than optimal care.
In treatment for cancer at the time of the interview, Lang spoke of the kindness and care he received from his nursing colleagues. Laurie Lang passed away later that year at the age of 56.
Keywords: Alberta Hospital Edmonton, Phoenix Program, Professional Responsibility Concerns, Registered Nurse, Registered Psychiatric Nurse, Education
Transcript: Download PDF
See also: Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; United Nurses of Alberta