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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