'Everything suffers': northern Manitoba officials warn nursing shortage impacting care
CTV
Community officials are sounding the alarm on the shortage of nurses in some northern Manitoba communities, claiming it's impacting the health and care of residents.
Community officials are sounding the alarm on the shortage of nurses in some northern Manitoba communities, claiming it's impacting the health and care of residents.
Tom Lindsey, the NDP MLA for Flin Flon, said while there's a nurse shortage across Manitoba, it's more critical in the north because the number of nurses in those communities is lower.
"(When you're) that short, everything suffers, whether it's Flin Flon, The Pas, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids, all those communities have seen a degradation of services," said Lindsey.
"You can't give birth in any of those communities anymore. You got to go somewhere else."
On Friday, the Manitoba Nurses Union went to Twitter to say it was desperate for help in Lynn Lake, Gilliam, and Snow Lake.
Lindsey said over the last five years, the PC Government has dismantled and amalgamated health care facilities and services in the north, and the lack of nurses in the region is chipping away at the community as a whole.
"Even though we bring in agency nurses, they fly in, they fly out. They're not part of the community, they're not (living) there, they're not paying taxes."
