I wonder if more people in our province need to hear first-person frontline stories to understand the severity of what is happening to Ontario right now. Maybe reading this story will encourage them to connect with their represented officials and ask them to protect us.

A nurse in our neighbourhood parenting FB group said I could share this account she posted about last night's 11:30 pm-11:30 am shift. She has posted many times before but today's post is the scariest one yet.

"Sometimes I hit the ground running, we can get busy. This was different. I hit the ground and fell flat on my face. I was immediately charting for a code half complete with no notes, whom I had zero back story on; running for supplies for another code, and being asked

by several doctors to complete necessary orders for 2 patients who had been left without a Nurse too long. I had no report on a single patients until 4pm. The day nurses did not eat or rest until 6 hours into their shift.

I glanced at a flushed paramedic and said “what the actual F”! He informed me that they were beyond busy. The acuity and desperation was evident. He told me they were ONLY going to the highest level of call. Heart attacks, strokes, OD ETC. Life or limb. The rest had to wait.

This wave....Had it been like this in the first, we would have had public attention, support and people would be scared enough to listen. But today people are done. Sadly they are done as much more contagious variants gain momentum.These variants seem to be making people sicker.

We have no words anymore at work. We don’t say much about how busy it has been this week. We have no desire to talk about lockdowns and vaccines and anti maskers....This is how HCW survive. We accept the new norm and we buckle down and work."

This is me again now: Please encourage our Minister of Education @Sflecce to close all Ontario schools and daycares. Please encourage @fordnation to support paid sick leave. Please ask them to help protect HCWs in our communities.