Registered nurses from PRHC to provide fact sheets about cuts to beds, RNs

May 15 2010

Registered nurses from Peterborough Regional Health Centre, members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), will be speaking with Peterborough residents and providing fact sheets about cuts to beds and RNs tomorrow at the Peterborough Farmer's Market.

The nurses will be handing out the information and encouraging residents to fight the cuts that threaten access to quality care from 7 am to 1 pm.

PRHC recently underwent a peer review that recommended cutting 121 full-time registered nurses, closing 71 beds and making cuts to all areas of the hospital to balance the budget. PRHC plans to move alternate-level-of-care patients out of the hospital and into the community or nursing homes, yet there is a three-year wait list for spots in nursing homes in the community and just two affordable retirement homes in the area - both of which have a two-year wait list for a bed.

ONA is the union representing 55,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals, as well as more than 12,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

WHAT: Registered nurses hold information session at Peterborough Farmer's Market to talk about health-care cuts WHEN: Saturday, May 15, 2010 from 7 am to 1 pm WHERE: Peterborough Farmer's Market, Morrow Park, George and Landsdowne Streets, Peterborough