Fighting for patients and respect.
Home-care nurses and health-care professionals at the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) are deeply dedicated to the care and well-being of their patients. They’re fighting for the fair wages and support they deserve, to maintain high-quality home care for those who need it, and better health care for all of Ontario.
“We provide a service that keeps people out of hospitals, where it’s very expensive to care for a patient. We need to be recognized as important nurses in our province.”
The vital role
of home care.
VON home-care nurses and health-care professionals are the unsung heroes of our fragile health-care system, providing direct care that keeps patients out of hospitals and long-term care. They manage individualized care plans supporting clients with complex medical conditions through a wide range of comprehensive health services, including wound care, medication management, blood monitoring, palliative and diabetes care, with added focus on their clients' well-being and education.
Hospitals are overcrowded and long-term care waitlists keep growing. Short staffing means patients are made to wait for hours, and often receive care in hallways. It’s the dedicated service of home-care nurses in communities and remote areas that alleviates pressure on Ontario’s over-burdened health-care facilities, but the Ford government hasn’t shown home-care RNs the respect they deserve.
To stop this crisis from getting worse, VON nurses have a simple demand: pay fair for home care.
“Our governments have failed in maintaining home care. We are totally not prepared for our aging population and we are actually in a crisis right now.”
Neglected and under-valued.
More than 200 Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) home-care nurses and health-care professionals are negotiating a new collective agreement with the Victorian Order of Nurses.
Overburdened, underpaid, and routinely taken for granted by the Ontario government – home-care nurses are leaving the field, and it’s easy to see why.
VON nurses and health-care professionals’ real wages have declined 8% over the pandemic, 14% over the decade, and 16% since they peaked in 2009.
It’s time that the VON Board of Directors negotiates fair wages and improved benefits to keep nurses where we need them.
Unsafe Conditions
Home care nurses often work in remote areas and do many home visits alone, leaving them vulnerable to violence on the job that is far too common. Because their work happens outside of the safety of hospitals and health-care facilities, they lack the supports and resources other sectors would provide.
Increasing Need
With Ontario’s aging population expected to grow by more than 650,000 over the next six years, there will be a huge increase in demand for home-care services, but no extra staff to provide it. Without home-care nurses and health-care professionals patients won’t get the care they need and deserve.
Schedules & Travel
Frequently, home care nurses are scheduled to see clients back-to-back, even though clients may live hours apart – making it difficult to provide the high standard of care they strive for. They pay out of pocket for gas to travel to clients and don’t receive extra pay for working weekends, late nights and holidays.
wage parity
Home-care nurses are the lowest paid in the province. They deliver the same high level of care as nurses in hospitals and other sectors, yet they continue to be egregiously underpaid for their expertise. Home-care nurses deserve equal compensation.
It’s time to pay fair for home care.
Send your MPP a message in support of Ontario’s home-care nurses.
