/R E P E A T -- Media Advisory: Ontario Nurses' Association President, Ontario Chief Nursing Officer to Visit Toronto Nurses Tomorrow/

Linda Haslam-Stroud to celebrate Nursing Week with ONA members

TORONTO, May 10, 2016 /CNW/ - Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, Provincial Chief Nursing Officer Kaiyan Fu, RN and Andy Summers, RN, ONA Region 3 Vice-President, will visit nurses in Toronto tomorrow to celebrate Nursing Week.

Haslam-Stroud, Fu and Summers will meet with ONA members throughout a Toronto hospital to celebrate the vital role nurses play as skilled care providers and patient advocates. Tomorrow afternoon, Haslam-Stroud will visit with members from another Toronto-area hospital before attending a Nursing Week dinner with registered nurses from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

ONA members have chosen the theme, "We are Ontario's nurses. Nurses know." Throughout the week of May 9 to 15, ONA members will celebrate their highly educated and skilled profession and the pivotal role they play in the health-care system.

"ONA members know how valuable their care is in ensuring patients have the best possible health outcomes," said Haslam-Stroud. "That makes us more determined than ever to fight the erosion of RN care in our hospitals being announced across the province as hospital CEOs cut the front lines to balance the bottom line. In some parts of the province, our members are using their roles as patient advocates to take the fight for safe, quality care to Queen's Park. We know that the value of proper RN staffing cannot be overstated."

Nursing Week is marked worldwide to coincide with the birthday of Florence Nightingale on May 12. ONA Bargaining Units in hospitals, long-term care, public health, the community, clinics and industry will mark the week with a diverse array of events. ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud and ONA First Vice-President Vicki McKenna, RN, will travel the province to make site visits to ONA members. Haslam-Stroud is available for media interviews while in the region.

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.

WHO:	Ontario Nurses' Association President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, Ontario Chief
	Nursing Office Kaiyan Fu, ONA VP Andy Summers, RN
WHAT:	Nursing Week Site Visits in Toronto
WHEN:	Wednesday, May 11, 2016

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Sheree Bond, [phone], ext. 2430, cell: [phone], [email protected]; Melanie Levenson, [phone], ext. 2369, [email protected]; Visit us at: www.ona.org, Facebook.com/OntarioNurses, Twitter.com/OntarioNurses