HAMILTON - After
107 years of
service to the
community, the
Victorian Order
of Nurses were
told Tuesday
they were
disqualified
from the
tendering
process that
will decide home
care nursing
services in the
Hamilton region.
No reasons were
given.
About 100 VON
nursing and
administrative
staff will be
without a job
next April, many
after lengthy
careers
delivering home
care to patients
in the Hamilton
region. VON
Hamilton
recently was
given the
Hamilton
Spectator Gold
Reader’s Choice
Award in the
home healthcare
category.
VON is the
second agency to
find out its
services were no
longer wanted
this week. On
Monday St.
Joseph’s Home
Care was told
they were
similarly
disqualified.
Together the two
largest
not-for-profit
agencies in the
region provide
about 80 per
cent of home
nursing care in
the region.
“Health minister
George
Smitherman has
delivered a lump
of coal into the
stocking of
almost every
home care nurse
and patient in
the Hamilton
area,” says
Warren (Smokey)
Thomas,
President of the
Ontario Public
Service
Employees Union
(OPSEU) which
represents the
VON workers.
Hamilton home
care patients
will likely
experience
disruption to
their care
during the
changeover. In
Niagara, where
the VON lost the
home care
contract in
2004, winning
agencies
struggled to
hire enough
staff, leaving
many patients in
a precarious
position.
The agencies are
among the first
in the province
to lose home
care work as the
three-year
moratorium on
competitive
bidding was
lifted this
fall.
VON workers were
told the news at
a meeting
Wednesday
morning.
The province
declared a
moratorium on
competitive
bidding in 2004
after several
high-profile
battles were
waged across the
province to save
community-supported
not-for-profit
agencies. VON,
Red Cross, and
St. Elizabeth
Nurses (SEN) had
all been denied
local contracts
to continue home
care services in
regions
throughout the
province.
“George
Smitherman may
think he can
slide this under
the radar during
the holiday
season, but it
won’t go without
a challenge,”
said Thomas.
“OPSEU is
committed to
ending this
destructive and
costly method of
delivering home
care services.”
