Desi Today Magazine
It will take time for the toll of the pandemic to be fully quantified, but stories of how the healthcare workforce has really been put to the test during past 2 years, are in abundance. Nurses in COVID-19 hot spots, across the world, have been asked to do the unimaginable. They have pushed body and mind to the limit to save lives.
Despite the significant challenges associated with being a nurse during the pandemic and beyond that, there is something about this profession that has inspired many courageous women to stay in the profession and fight for their rights and for their patients. One among those is Aman Grewal, president of BC Nurses’ Union (BCNU). Aman has been nursing for over 35 years. She began working at Surrey Memorial Hospital (SMH) where she found her passion in pediatrics and later in pediatric emergency, before settling into a leadership role. Supporting and championing causes of nurses has been a cornerstone of Aman’s work since the time she joined this profession.
Her involvement with BCNU came early in her career during the strike of 1989 when she took on the challenge of serving as her region’s job action coordinator for SMH while the chief steward was away on leave. She stepped up to take on hospital management, coordinate picket lines, and liaise with other unions to help maintain the job action at the large campus.
In an interview with Desi Today Aman shares her journey, perspective on why she is so passionate about supporting and championing the nursing community, as well as what these unprecedented years have meant to nurses.
DT: Aman we would like to start by knowing something about you. Tell us something about your family, and childhood days?
I was born and raised in Duncan, on Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley, to two loving, caring, and hardworking parents. We belonged to the Sikh community that congregated at Paldi Sikh Temple. It’s important for me to highlight that because we were rooted in the heritage and had a sense of belonging to something unique and great. Duncan was one of the largest Sikh communities in BC. My maternal great grandfather arrived in Canada in 1906. My family has had a rich history with many successes and accomplishments, and I believe that is thanks to the approach taken to our upbringing by our parents and ancestors. I graduated from Langara College nursing school in 1987. I think back on a time when there were no vacant nursing positions – one had to wait to get into any nursing school, let alone finally becoming employed to practice your profession.
DT: When did you discover your passion for nursing or what made you attracted towards this career?
My nursing career began at Surrey Memorial Hospital in February 1988. I worked at that site for over 30 years when I transitioned to the BC Nurses’ Union upon election as the union’s vice president in April 2019. I was again elected to the same position in August 2020. Just over a year later, I became union president, in September 2021.
I felt the spark of union activism early in my career, back when BCNU members took strike action for the first time in 1989. I credit my dear late father for instilling his union values in me and the need to fight for the rights of the workers; to fight for safer, improved working conditions; to fight for fair wages with gender equality and parity.
In my career journey at Surrey Memorial hospital, I followed my passions and worked in pediatrics, emergency, and pediatric emergency. I also became involved in diabetes education through teaching newly diagnosed children and their families, adults, and gestational diabetics. As the South Asian population increased, so did the prevalence of diabetes in this community, and I began teaching Punjabi classes on diabetes care and management. Then an opportunity arose for me – a leadership role as a Shift Coordinator, which was a supervisory role, and it then transitioned into the Site Leader and that’s a role I have held since 2003.
As an advocate for the staff and nurses at Surrey Memorial Hospital, and as a BCNU member wanting to ensure my fellow members were achieving a fair and equitable collective agreement in 2019, I found that my desire was reignited to become more fully engaged in unionism and advocacy.
DT: As a nurse you meet new patients everyday, is there any story of a patient that touched your heart?
When the world was hit by Covid in 2020, what was your reaction? Did you expect that it will take the shape of monster or were nurses prepared for it?
When Covid 19 hit, it was surreal. It seemed like it was happening far away, but when it hit North America, it quickly became a reality for us all here in BC. We as nurses had worked through SARS, H1n1, the Ebola scare… and then we were faced with Covid-19. Nurses are forever adapting and are so resilient and have always taken on a new challenge. But this time it was different in the sense that they did not have the proper personal protective equipment to keep themselves safe. This was a very unfortunate reality that was due to a critical shortage of pandemic supplies in BC and across Canada. Then you layer that on to the already severe nursing shortage, and our opioid crisis. Through these extreme challenges, nurses have prevailed as the backbone of the healthcare system these past two years. We have come out as champions.
DT: How has the pandemic affected nurses in these past 2 years? What are some of the biggest challenges nurses are facing?
Nurses are tired. Really tired. They’re physically exhausted. They are mentally and morally distressed from working on overdrive since the start of the pandemic. Every single day they work short-staffed with increased workloads. They are depleted! Yet they keep on getting asked to give more – including even being mandated to work extended hours, after a 12-hour shift. They’re also constantly being asked to come in on their days off. When will nurses get the real break they deserve?
These are the working conditions for nurses, even as they are in the depths of staffing crisis. For years before the pandemic, BC has had a shortage of nurses. And now, in the pandemic, they are really bearing the brunt of it all.
BCNU learned more about that in a recent survey of our members. We found that 76% of nurses said their workload has increased compared to before the pandemic. 68% said staffing was inadequate over the last three months. And 82% said their mental health has worsened during the pandemic. BCNU is very concerned for the mental and physical wellbeing of our members. They need more mental health supports and increased access to time off to recover. If nurses are not well looked after and cared for now, how can we expect them to continue to look after us in BC when we need care?
Another major risk to nurses is the threat of workplace violence. Violent acts are perpetrated against them on the job! That would not be tolerated in any other profession or workplace. Nurses are experiencing verbal and physical assaults! It happens all over the province and just two recent examples include the Kelowna General Hospital, where a nurse at a screening desk was struck and verbally assaulted while working. And, in Kamloops, two nurses were verbally assaulted after leaving a testing centre.
We know that as staffing levels go down, rates of violence go up. Between the first and third waves of the pandemic, nurses reported a 35% increase in the amount or severity of violence in their workplace.
Security measures must improve to keep nurses and all health care workers safe.
DT: BC government in the recent budget and StrongerBC plan announced more seats and training for nurses, however a recent survey has shown that pandemic burnout and experience has made them leave this career. On one hand government is planning to prepare workforce, but are there plans to retain that workforce?
BCNU has welcomed the recent government announcement of 602 new nurse education seats at post-secondary institutions across the province. This investment is a promising step towards addressing the nurse staffing crisis that is currently crippling our health care system.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are ready to jump into this wonderful and meaningful profession and that fills me with tremendous hope, to know that there is demand for nursing programs. That is why it is critical we do everything we can for them to achieve their goal of becoming a nurse. But first we must get these students into the schools. In 2021, UBC had 860 applications for 120 spots. Douglas College had a waitlist of long than one year. Once they are graduated, we also must ensure we keep our BC-educated nurses practicing and working in this province. In 2019, nearly 10% of nurses graduating in BC were migrating to other provinces.
In 2021, the Labour Market Outlook advised that we need to hire more than 26,000 nurses by 2031. We have repeatedly asked the BC government to come up with a health human resource plan to outline how to retain nurses. There are senior nurses who are tired and ready to leave after giving so many years of service – but now they’re working short staffed – and that’s after highlighting the staffing crisis for years and saying that a staffing shortage was looming! Well, now we’re in it. So, let’s retain these nurses to mentor the new nurses who are starting their careers – let’s set them up for success so they want to stay in the career they worked and studied so hard to pursue. Government should incentivize nurses to stay.
Another important factor in retention is how the environment is where you work. The provincial health authorities employ our nurses and as employers, they must commit to improving the existing workplace culture. They must foster psychologically safe work environments that are inclusive and respectful, free of harassment and bullying. Additionally, there are some other real challenges nurses face at work, such as when they’re unexpectedly redeployed, or are saddled with inadequate orientation, or expected to perform non-nursing duties. The BC Nurses’ Union is more focused than ever on ensuring the nursing profession remains a top priority of this government. If the government does not make solid, sustainable investments in nursing education and retention, it will be impossible for BC to meet its health care demands.
DT: Recently you said the recent budget doesn’t do enough to focus on the overdose crisis, which claimed over 2,200 lives last year. What according to you is the solution?
We believe the solution is in the fundamental understanding that addiction and substance use are health-care issues, not merely criminal or moral issues. The opioid crisis should not be addressed by criminalizing personal possession and consumption. Lives are being lost to criminalization. BCNU has advocated for preventative health care policies long before the opioid crisis was declared a public health crisis.
We recognize the challenges that come with this crisis but still we call on government, both federal and provincial, to step up and tackle it now. Recent measures, such as the Provincial Health Officer’s order that allows RNs and RPNs to administer pharmaceutical alternatives is one step in the right direction to saving lives. Expanding nurses’ scope can absolutely help. But long-term investments are still needed to build a comprehensive system of mental health and addictions care. While harm reduction remains a crucial aspect of a comprehensive approach to controlled substances, it is the toxicity of the drug supply and the need to reframe the approach to drug use that also warrant additional measures.
If we are to scale up harm reduction services in BC, we believe this must be done in concert with the decriminalization of people who possess controlled substances for personal use. This is the approach that will save lives.
The federal government has an obligation to act because it has failed to control the illegal drug supply or keep fentanyl out of it. We call on the federal government to immediately decriminalize the personal possession of all drugs. We call on the federal government to declare the current opioid overdose and fentanyl poisoning crisis a National Public Health Emergency under the Emergencies Act, with the aim of reducing and eliminating preventable deaths.
Let’s give people the approach and the care they deserve, now.
What is your message to all the nurses who have been working tirelessly, but are feeling the pandemic burnout?
My message to all the nurses who have worked throughout the pandemic and are feeling burnt out, is about the deepest gratitude that I and so many others feel. I am so tremendously grateful for our nurses who have been the backbone and the bedrock keeping our healthcare system functioning during multiple, ongoing public health crises. Our job now is to now support and care for nurses’ mental and physical health. We must help them heal from all that they have endured through the pandemic. The mental distress and deaths they have seen over the past two years… it’s more than many will ever see in an entire career. As case numbers decline in BC, let’s hope and pray this is the last we see in variants, and let’s hope we can start to look forward to a new normal in our everyday lives – and let’s also hope and pray that our nurses can have a chance to just relax and catch their breath.
