The year has just begun. Nationally and internationally, we see, hear and experience turmoil everywhere. How do our hearts not break for those families who have lost loved ones in the recent rains, floods and slips that have changed the lives of many in an instant? It could have been any one of us.
It was one of us in America where an ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was shot multiple times trying to help another. He is not alone. Between 80,000 to 180,000 nurses lost their lives during the Covid pandemic according to WHO. Countless thousands more have lost their lives delivering critical care under fire, stabilising the wounded, managing scarce resources, and sustaining essential services amid devastation. In Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and many other crises affected countries, nurses are holding entire health systems together. We do so, during times of political turmoil, not just war. We do so when political promises are broken, when our patients and ourselves are put in harm’s way as a result of decisions made about us, without us. Buying into divisive politics is destructive.
Instead, our actions, as carers, are grounded in our values and that is why we should not become what we fear or criticise. We must constantly reflect on our cultural identity and recognise the impact it has on our professional practice and social responsibilities. However, we cannot sit idly by and not be concerned about what happens to others as there by the grace of God, go we. Human progress never rolls on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of people who join in the shared struggle against injustice that impacts on the health and wellbeing of our communities.
In the past year, we have gone on strike many times in many different ways. We have withdrawn our labour and marched in the streets. We have worn T-shirts with a clear message “Not enough Nurses”. We have declined to be used as pawns, being shifted here and there to cover up the multitude of roster gaps that are deliberately not being filled to save money regardless of the burnout, fatigue and moral distress it causes to all involved. We have ignored daily calls for overtime and extra shifts to make visible the expectation of employers and Government that we keep giving until we collapse. We have illuminated the injustice of the decisions made by others that are negatively impacting on our work environment, our patients and communities, and ourselves.
Injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action. This requires resolving the issues that precipitate our protests and strikes such as the need for collective and agreed long term workforce planning and protection through legislated culturally safe nurse to patient ratios, and a safely resourced work environment with the funding to make it happen.
Martin Luther King Junior once stated that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Therefore, we must ALL be part of the change we want to see. The “do-nothingism” of the complacent or those who leave it to “someone else” will not see justice done. Worse it will see a rise in racism and discrimination (already embedded in our health system infrastructure) that is escalating in America, empowered by the few who have never been willing to share their power and privilege. In turbulent times, a house divided against itself will not stand.
Every gain we make, for our members and those we care for, must be made through determined legal and collective non-violent pressure. Further, we must be mindful of the legislative and regulatory changes that are being made to curtail our right and responsibility to speak out and act for the greater good. Changes to the Pae Ora Act made by the current govt state that we must be politically neutral when health care inequity and inequality is inherently a result of political decisions and actions. Yet it is our regulatory obligation to advocate for our patients and our communities. Therefore, we must not be silent or still. We must ALL stand up together, as communities have done in recent days in Aotearoa and America, and work to protect and strengthen the country’s public health system that is patient, whanau, and community centred.
If we want a different kind of world and a different kind of politics that result in an affordable, accessible, culturally safe and appropriately resourced public health system, we have choices to make. Politicians only have the power we give them. We need to decide if those we vote into power hold the values WE hold dear.
Kia kaha!