CFNU asks front-line nurses to put safety first in 2015

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is urging nurses and other health care workers to put safety first in 2015 by making the health and safety of health care workers, patients and communities a top priority.

This includes dealing with serious infectious diseases, and the CFNU released a video today about the state of Canada’s preparedness for Ebola Virus Disease with the key message that we must protect the safety of nurses who care for patients.

“Front-line health care workers learned a lot from the SARS and H1N1 crises,” said CFNU President Linda Silas in a news release published this morning. “A weak response to the Ebola threat means we failed to heed those lessons.

“CFNU is committed to ensuring we don’t fail health care workers as they care for their patients,” she stated.

CFNU and provincial nurses unions are working with public health care agencies and provincial governments across Canada to ensure proper protective equipment, training and staffing are available to protect health care workers.

CFNU represents approximately 200,000 front-line nurses across Canada through its affiliated unions. United Nurses of Alberta, which affiliated with CFNU in 1998, represents approximately 30,000 Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses in Alberta.

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