Ontario Nurses' Association Joins Workers in Marking 2016 Day of Mourning

TORONTO, April 27, 2016 /CNW/ - As workers across Ontario mark the 2016 Day of Mourning tomorrow, the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) is calling for more accountability in the prevention of violent incidents in health care.

"Statistics show that health-care workers including registered nurses are among the sickest and most injured professionals of all, including firefighters and police," said ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "While we continue to work with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour at the provincial round table on workplace violence, ONA believes that real change – on the ground – will only happen when changes are made that integrate accountability for the safety of workers."

Tomorrow, front-line registered nurses and allied health professionals will join workers to mark this solemn date. Nurses will mourn ONA members Tecla Lin, RN and Nelia Laroza, RN, each of whom contracted and died of SARS while caring for patients, and Lori Dupont, RN, who was murdered in Windsor while working in the recovery room of Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.

"We care deeply at ONA about improving workplace safety for our 60,000 front-line members, and working to create safer work environments for nursing students coming into the profession," says Haslam-Stroud. Yet we continue to see RNs assaulted on the job on an almost-daily basis. This simply cannot continue, and increasing accountability for staff safety, we believe, will make a difference."

ONA is the union representing 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care, the community, public health, clinics and industry.

Visit us at: www.ona.org; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430, cell: [phone], [email protected]; Ruth Featherstone, [phone], ext. 2267, [email protected]