Media Advisory - Ontario Nurses to March on Queen's Park: RNs Protesting the Gutting of Nursing Positions, Hours of Care

    TORONTO, March 3 /CNW/ - Placard-waving registered nurses (RNs), allied
health professionals and students, members of the Ontario Nurses' Association
(ONA) from across the province, will march from the Delta Chelsea Hotel to
Queen's Park this Thursday to protest the close to 1,000 RN positions cut from
provincial health-care facilities.
    "Government policy has resulted in our health-care facilities balancing
their budgets on the backs of RNs - and patient care," says ONA President
Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN. "Every full-time-equivalent RN position lost is equal
to 1,950 hours per year of nursing care. The positions lost represent more
than 1.5-million hours of registered nursing care gone, putting patients at
higher risk of experiencing complications and even death."
    The nurses will march north on University Avenue to Queen's Park,
arriving at the Legislature at approximately 11:45 am. They will be
distributing Cutting Nurses, Cutting Care brochures that provide information
on the effects of cutting RNs, and will hear from speakers including Linda
Haslam-Stroud of ONA and a representative from the Canadian Nursing Students'
Association.
    Premier Dalton McGuinty stated in the legislature last week that the
government is not cutting nurses - but the nurses of Ontario know differently
and will bring their message to the government.
    ONA is in the midst of a public ad campaign to inform the public of the
cuts and their implications for patient care. Cutting Nurses, Cutting Care
campaign television ads are currently airing and transit shelter ads are up in
selected cities across Ontario.
    The ads urge Ontarians to visit cuttingnursescuttingcare.ca to learn more
and to send a message to their MPP to stop the cuts.What:     Registered Nurses March to Queen's Park, Rally at the
              Legislature to Protest RN Cuts
    When:     Thursday, March 5, 2009, march begins at 11:30 am from the
              Delta Chelsea Hotel (Gerrard Street entrance), arrives at
              Queen's Park at 11:45 am
    Where:    Ontario Legislature, Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario

For further information: Ontario Nurses' Association, Sheree Bond, (416)
964-8833, ext. 2430, cellular: [phone]