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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - August 9, 2005
To the Editor:
Licensed Practical Nurses in BC are at a critical stage in their evolutionary role within Health Care and must collaborate to ensure that the proper path is taken. If you are an LPN, please contact us. If you know an LPN, please cut this letter out and give it to them for their consideration.
LPN's, you are well aware that we do not bargain our contracts with other nurses of the Province. As part of 3 regulated groups of professionals who are legally allowed to call themselves nurses, we believe that it is logical to discuss various professional issues exclusively with other nurses.
This does not mean changing unions, a common misperception. There is a difference between the union to which we belong, and the bargaining association that our union represents us at.
Currently, the Health Authorities Act stipulates that only RN's and RPN's may be allowed to bargain at the Nurses Bargaining Association table.
Both these groups belong to different unions yet collaborate to ensure common nursing issues are addressed. What is needed is an amendment to this legislation allowing LPN's to sit at this bargaining table also.
In March of this year, a grassroots movement started with a group of LPN's in Kelowna, with the intention of educating every possible LPN in the province to our mission. It has taken a dire shortage of nurses for us to be allowed to practice the skills we have been trained with.
With our clinical evolution must come professional evolution.
There are many more details to this issue than we can possibly have printed in a simple letter to the editor. But what we are confident of is that the greater majority of LPN's in this province are desirous of change in some way.
Please consider our request to acquire more information so that you may decide for yourself how our situation should be handled. Together, we can make a difference.
- Nicole Fishley, Secretary - LPN Directions Planning Group, Kelowna
Dear Editor,
My wife and I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Mascot Gold Mine in Hedley. We would like to congratulate the Upper Similkameen Band on a first class tourist facility.
For anyone travelling to Vancouver through Hedley, I would like to say that a visit to the Mine is really worthwhile. The tour bus climbs 1,000 metres above the valley floor and offers a spectacular view of the Similkameen Valley.
For those who are interested in the tour which takes approximately 4 1/2 hours I would suggest that you make reservations ahead of time.
This can be done by calling 1-888-799-8733.
We would like to say a special thanks to our guides Chuck and Marcie, as well as the driver, Mason, for sharing their knowledge of the mine and area.
- Alex Atamanenko, Castlegar
