'We are not an option. We are a necessity.'

Ontario Nurses' Association Marks Nursing Week 2024

TORONTO, May 2, 2024 /CNW/ - The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) and its 68,000 members including registered nurses, nurse practitioners and registered practical nurses, will mark Nursing Week 2024 by demanding respect and recognition.

"We are not an option. We are a necessity. That's ONA's theme for Nursing Week 2024 and our message to health-care decision makers," notes ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. "ONA members have signalled that this year's events will do more than celebrate nurses' dedication, expertise and achievements. We are going further to tell Ontarians the brutal truth about the desperate need to recruit and retain nurses in this province ? a reality the Ford government and too many employers are still denying."

Nursing Week is set for May 6 to 12, 2024. Ariss and ONA's Board of Directors will be criss-crossing Ontario throughout the week to support local Nursing Week events.

Ariss says that "There is no health care without nurses. We are there for our patients, residents and clients through enormous challenges in every sector of healthcare, determined to provide the safest, highest-quality care we can. This determination has earned us the trust of the public, yet employers and government have abused our dedication and devalued our skills.

"This year, we say no more. We demand respect and recognition and more importantly, we demand government action to address Ontario's chronic and severe nursing shortage in every sector. This Nursing Week, we are fighting for our profession, to ensure high-quality public health care is there for those who need it, now and in the future," Ariss says.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

SOURCE Ontario Nurses' Association