Ontario Nurses' Association Members to Mark 2013 Day of Mourning:

Registered Nurses among those who have died in the workplace

TORONTO, April 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) members and directors will participate in Day of Mourning ceremonies across Ontario tomorrow.

The Day of Mourning is held each year to commemorate those who have died in work-related incidents. For nurses, the lives of registered nurses Tecla Lin and Nelia Larosa - who contracted and died of SARS while treating patients, as well as Lori Dupont, who was murdered while working in the recovery room of a Windsor hospital, will be remembered.

"This year is especially poignant for our dedicated registered nurses," notes ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "We are marking the 10^th anniversary of SARS and note with apprehension reports that the first health-care workers have become ill in China while treating patients with the new, virulent H7N9 bird flu."

RNs, notes Haslam-Stroud, remain on the front lines during outbreaks and are routinely sickened and/or injured in the workplace. Post-SARS, an investigation led by the late Archie Campbell concluded that hospitals can be a more dangerous workplace than coal mines, and that nurses were infected with SARS due to a lack of access to safe equipment and communication.

Tomorrow at noon in Toronto, ONA Board Member Andy Summers, RN will accompany members to Larry Sefton Park (Bay and Hagerman Streets) to participate in the ceremony. They will also remember those who remain ill due to the long-term health damage caused by SARS. In Windsor, ONA Board Member Karen Bertrand, RN will attend the local ceremony this Sunday at Coventry Gardens.

ONA is the union representing 60,000 front-line RNs, RPNs and allied health professionals and more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in Ontario hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.

SOURCE: Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association

Sheree Bond
[phone], ext. 2430; cell: [phone]; [email protected]

Melanie Levenson
[phone], ext. 2369; [email protected]

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