Registered nurses can help with the crisis
It should be of no surprise that the emergency department at Saanich Peninsula Hospital had to divert patients to other hospitals due to lack of nursing staff.
It is an ongoing reflection of a global nursing shortage. Governments around the world have known this was coming for a long time as the huge swath of baby boomers retired, but have done nothing to prepare for it.
And now the pandemic has been the straw that broke the camel’s back, despite all the sweet talk by Health Minister Adrian Dix as to how well our health-care system is doing.
Instead of providing incentives to encourage people into the profession in preparation for this huge loss of manpower, registered nurses have been continually asked to do more with less.
And, while care aides and LPNs are a great and welcome support, the increasingly technical aspect of nursing requires more RNs with a higher level of training and expertise in so many areas.
This level of training and expertise is not achieved in five minutes, though, and even starting the process now will not see new graduates for another four years.
Let’s start giving financial incentives to get people into training, open more seats in training programs, pay student nurses while working on the wards, and require newly qualified RNs stay at the bedside for at least five years before advancing into management.
It is only with manpower and support that nurses will stay in the profession.
In the meanwhile, until this is corrected, stay healthy.
Joanne Wiggins, RN
Victoria
Fighting wildfires calls for those bombers
I have often wondered why, virtually everywhere else in the world, large water bombers like the Mars are used to fight wildfires, yet in B.C. we sideline the Mars bombers.
For some unexplained reason, the B.C. government decided to sideline the use of large bombers in 2015. Since 2015 there has been a large uptick in the amount of B.C. burned every year.
A look at the number of fires over the past 20 years shows little change in average numbers, but the size of the fires has increased significantly. The current wildfire fighting strategy does not appear to be working for B.C.
Yes, the Mars can only be reloaded in a smaller number of lakes, but for virtually every fire of note such a lake was nearby.
The Mars bombers have an internationally proven record of knocking wildfires back quickly. Yes, they might not be the best for all fires, but if they are used on the ones they can help get under control they will free up other resources for the other fires.
If this year is not a case to change our wildfire fighting strategy, what will it take to convince the powers that be it is?
Norm Ryder
Central Saanich
Save lives and property with the Martin Mars
Why is an Island-based water bomber sidelined as B.C. burns?
When we have the largest air tanker in the world (27,000 litres), why are we using helicopters with Bambi Buckets (1,500 litres) on these large fires? Even our main air tankers (the “Fire Boss”) are puny: they can only dump 3,000 litres at a time, one-ninth the load of one Martin Mars dump.
It takes 18 helicopter trips to drop the same volume of water on a fire as it does one dump from a Martin Mars. In the intervals between the helicopter dumps, the fire has opportunities to recover and grow. It’s akin to digging a hole with a teaspoon vs a shovel — you must use the appropriate tool for the job at hand.
Bambi Buckets (you see them dangling below helicopters) have a very important role to play in fighting wildfires: as initial attack weapons and on cleanup after a major fire has been beaten down they are ideal, but not so in front-line big-fire situations.
Similarly with the Fire Boss; use the most appropriate size of tanker for the job at hand.
Let’s get large volumes of water dumped on these big fires. Lives and property are at stake.
Ted Lewall
Esquimalt
Don’t wash your vehicle until it rains
After 50-plus days of no rain, and a forecast of none on the way, all around us we see trees dying from lack of moisture.
Yet, and I find this incomprehensible, some of our fellow citizens are still washing their precious cars, trucks, RVsand boats.
Do they not realize that most likely we will be in for water restrictions at the end of summer or the beginning of fall? Surely vehicles can wait until we have a few heavy rainfalls.
P.G. McEneaney
Colwood
Pork for me, but not for thee
The commentary by the past chair of the Grumpy Taxpayer$ wonders why there is a constant turnover in chief administrative officers in local municipalities.
As I understand it, municipalities are allowed to award severance packages of up to two-times salary (although it appears that the “up to” is often ignored). This amplifies an already inflated salary to a stratospheric level — but only if the employee is dismissed.
The implication of this is that these golden severance packages actually encourage poor performance or “interpersonal conflict.”
If my career-advancement strategy were to seek a new appointment every three years or so, getting myself dismissed without cause would get me five years’ pay for three years’ work, whereas resigning would get me only three years’ pay.
The simple solution to this problem is to offer the statutory minimum severance package to all municipal employees, regardless of the nature of the position. Furthermore, since the salaries of public employees earning over $100,000 per annum is a matter of public record, there is no excuse for councils making these compensation decisions behind closed doors.
On the subject of salary, if all 13 municipalities were amalgamated into one, then a salary of $300k per annum might be justified. So perhaps we should pay each municipal CAO one-thirteenth of $300,000. Perhaps this would speed things up a bit.
M.H. Ward
Victoria
Housing questions need to be addressed
During this election, the lack of housing is a major issue for many people and on many different levels, including low income, affordable and something for those who have a reasonable income but are now shut out of the market.
Rethinking how we do housing is important so supply can be increased. I suggest we also need to consider how to modify demand.
It is time to restrict residential and recreational land ownership to Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. This opportunity is open to all ethnicities, so there is no barrier here. As folks in other countries seek safe havens for their families the problem will only increase, especially if they bring in large amounts of capital, distorting an already uneven playing field.
I was born in Vancouver, but never would be able to live there now given current prices. My grandchildren will not be able to live there, nor perhaps in Greater Victoria the way things are going.
Vancouver no longer has space for people who service their many industries, be they skilled workers in manufacturing office support or retail. What then?
It’s never too late to shore up our ownership practices so our children have a future. Our current practices are simply not working.
Barry Rolston
Victoria
Without infrastructure. some ideas don’t work
Re: “Putting Clover Point changes into perspective,” commentary, Aug. 18.
What a load of rubbish. Reduced spaces, carbon emissions, blah blah blah. Have you ever tried to get to Clover Point with a family without a car, truck or SUV? There isn’t a magical field of Narnia that transports me to these locations.
We live in Canada, the second-largest country in the world, with wide open spaces and you need a car/truck to get around, to shop, to visit friends as we have no reliable means at our disposal to do it any other way.
B.C. Transit does a poor job of transporting us around as they aren’t looking at the bigger picture of the infrastructure needs of the city.
They don’t start till 6 a.m., and they end at midnight. With a city moving to and fro all day long, it should be 24 hours a day. It could be if we had a rail service.
We have full buses on major routes at major times, which is why I was refused service by three buses because they were full.
I was 45 minutes late to work. That is when I stopped taking transit.
If you don’t have the infrastructure, don’t leap to a change that can’t be sustained.
I loved watching the winter weather from my car as the waves pounded the shore at Clover Point. Now I can’t even park on that side.
Cars aren’t going away and can’t go away in this country until there are viable transportation alternatives — which no one has on the table.
Paul Scutt
Saanich
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