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A Tribute to Health-Care and Social Workers

On Thursday, March 17, I spoke in the Manitoba Legislature to pay tribute to Health-Care and Social Workers in Manitoba.

Tribute to Health‑Care and Social Workers

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the incredible efforts health‑care and social workers have made in Manitoba during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

      Health‑care aides, nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, laboratory technicians and those in many other allied health professions: we thank you. We know that some of you are feeling exhausted, overworked and tired, in part from often being man­dated to work a double shift when you came to work only one.

      We know that working conditions in health care in Manitoba are often far from ideal. Dr. Jillian Horton, a Winnipeg physician, described this when she said, and I quote: I work in a place where I can't compensate for chaos; where there are holes in the plaster wall in patient rooms; where people in stretchers are often parked out in front of the nursing desk, the way you might leave an idling car; where monitors beep, alarms sound, call bells ring, patients holler and families line the hallways and sob; where there is no order, only ongoing pandemonium, constant chaos. End of quote.

      We know, in spite of this, that you've done every­thing you could to make life better for those who have come for help. We know much of the difficulties, the mandating and the long hours are the result of the poor way in which the Conservative government has managed our precious health-care system, and also a reflection of the lack of attention to critical issues dating back to the years under the NDP.

      And yet, you have stepped up in spite of this, and you have done outstanding work for all Manitobans.

      We thank you, with all our hearts, for the efforts you have made.

      Merci. Miigwech.

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